History Main / CityOfGold

* ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'': This is a comic adaptation/reimagining of the second Oz novel, ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. And naturally, Emerald City is part of the setting. Just as in the first novel, Emerald City remains a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of this trope. The Wizard of Oz originally used trickery to make the city appear to be carved from emeralds, but in reality it is made of ordinary stone and worthless green-glass baubles. That remains true in this adaptation of the second novel, but unlike in the original source, the city's current ruler, Scarecrow, no longer tries to hide the truth.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragpnPrince'': The Sunfire Elf captial of Lux Aurea is a gleeming city adorned with gold. [[spoiler:However two years after the corruption of the sunseed, much of it has begun to be ReclaimedByNature.]]

* Mayfair Games' 3rd-party D&D supplement ''Dwarves'' includes a description of a city in which the street to the Temple District is paved with fine marble slabs, in which engraved holy text and symbols have been filled with gold to highlight them. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Because the stones and their gold infill aren't very sturdy, carts and draft animals aren't allowed on the street, but must divert to outlying routes to avoid wearing down the valuable paving materials.]]

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has a City of Gold (with that exact name) on the heavy metal-rich planet of [[https://orionsarm.com/eg-article/53beafe195721 Mayhew]]. Interestingly, it's inhabited by the poorest people on the planet. This is because it was built due to the intersection of two different philosophies: the Cult of Gold, which promotes ostentatious decoration and architecture, and Agapism, which promotes giving away wealth. And "poorest" is a relative term, since they're in a PostScarcityEconomy.

** This will incidentally become {{foreshadowing}} when Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever reveals that there really is a hidden city of South American descent built upon another mother lode of vibranium. Except it's situated [[UnderwaterCity beneath the Atlantic Ocean]] instead of anywhere on land.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tigtone}}'': The Screaming City is mostly made of gold and jewels, and everyone in it is ridiculously wealthy. However they must scream constantly or they will disintegrate.

** Gran Tesoro, an island made entirely of gold. Even the citizens are covered in a thin layer of gold so that its ruler, Gild Tesoro can use his Gol-Gol Fruit powers to enslave them.

* Shandora in ''Manga/OnePiece'', as shown in the page image. The second type, in that the people who live around this city find gold [[WorthlessYellowRocks completely worthless]], and instead fanatically protect a Poneglyph containing information about a WeaponOfMassDestruction that is found on the premises. On the other hand, [[BigBad Eneru]] ''did'' find gold extremely useful, but only because of its properties as a really effective conductor of electricity.
** Note that gold makes good ''connectors'' (unlike most metals, it doesn't form an oxidized surface film), but as a conductor, it's only about 70% as good as copper (whereas silver is about 10% ''better'' than copper). It's just that neither copper nor silver exists in large quantity [[ItMakesSenseInContext in the sky]].
** The Shandorans value the history, it being their homeland, and the soil on which the city stands, soil being extremely rare on the sky islands, and known reverently as "Varse".

* The mythical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Cities_of_Gold_(myth) Seven Cities of Gold]], sought by conquistadors. UsefulNotes/FranciscoVazquezDeCoronado found two of them, Cíbola and Quivira, but both were just ordinary little villages.