Štíty  Štíty (; until 1949 Šilperk ) is a small town in the Olomouc Region of Moravia, in the Czech Republic. It has about 2,000 inhabitants. The town is known for its freestyle skiing centre whose operator is the Winter Olympic gold medalist Aleš Valenta. The original name was Schildberg in German language and Šilperk in Czech language. The population was ethnically mixed until 1945 when Sudeten Germans were expelled. After World War II, the town was renamed as Žalkov; however, this name was not popular, thus new name "Štíty" was created. Meaning of original name as well as new one is connected with a shield. Grammatically, Štíty is in form of plural, meaning "shields". Štíty is located in west part of Šumperk District in Olomouc Region of Czech republic. Historical centre is situated on the promontory above Březná river which is part of Orlické Hory mountain range. Štíty town council also administers villages of Březná, Crhov and Heroltice. Surrounding area is hilly. Agricultural land is not fertile therefore number of inhabitants has never reached higher numbers. The oldest document about the town was discovered in Liechtenstein archive. It is dated 4 April 1365 referring to the estate transfer from Zdeněk ze Štenberka to a man named Heylin. The document also states that the transferred estate is connected to the right coming from year 1278, thus town existence before the 13th century is probable,  Another document comes from 1307 and 1308 which is a complaint of monks from Lanškroun who had to pay tribute of 180 silver hryvniatos to the robber baron Ježek ze Šilperka (literally Jezek from Šilperk, respectively from Štíty). According to Zemské desky, Štíty was owned by the House of Štenberk from 1308 who often leased the town to another aristocratic families. Štíty coat of arms is inspired by Štenberk coat of arms. In 1480, the town was sold to Jan Dalčický z Dačic, who donated Štíty as a dowry to Aleš Krčma z Koněpas.