Litoměřice is a town at the junction of the rivers
ElbeThe River Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in the Krkonose Mountains of northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and
OhřeThe Ohře is a 316 km long river in Germany and the Czech Republic , left tributary of the Elbe. The basin area of the river has a size of 6,255 km², of which 5,614 km² are in the Czech Republic and 641 km² in Germany...
in the north part of the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
, approximately 64 km (39,7 mi) northwest of
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
.
The area within the
Ústí nad Labem RegionÚstí nad Labem Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of its historical region of Bohemia...
is called
Garden of BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
thanks to mild weather conditions important for growing fruits and
grapeA grape is the non-climacteric fruit, botanically a true berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, and grape seed oil...
s. During the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, many pensionists chose it over more southern areas of the Empire.
One of the oldest Czech towns, Litoměřice was established in the 10th century at the place of an early medieval
SlavicThe Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern and central Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans...
fort.
Litoměřice is a town at the junction of the rivers
ElbeThe River Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in the Krkonose Mountains of northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and
OhřeThe Ohře is a 316 km long river in Germany and the Czech Republic , left tributary of the Elbe. The basin area of the river has a size of 6,255 km², of which 5,614 km² are in the Czech Republic and 641 km² in Germany...
in the north part of the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
, approximately 64 km (39,7 mi) northwest of
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
.
The area within the
Ústí nad Labem RegionÚstí nad Labem Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of its historical region of Bohemia...
is called
Garden of BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
thanks to mild weather conditions important for growing fruits and
grapeA grape is the non-climacteric fruit, botanically a true berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, and grape seed oil...
s. During the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, many pensionists chose it over more southern areas of the Empire.
History
One of the oldest Czech towns, Litoměřice was established in the 10th century at the place of an early medieval
SlavicThe Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern and central Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans...
fort. The royal town statute was granted in 1219. From the 12th to the 17th century it was a significant trade center in the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
. The German population suffered during the 15th century
Hussite WarsThe Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons made a decisive...
. After the Protestant insurrection that triggered the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
, and their defeat in the
Battle of White MountainThe Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 15,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
, the population of the city had to accept
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
, or leave the town, which became a bishop residency in 1655. As a result, the Czech population shrunk and the town became largely Germanized.
After the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved in late 1918, the areas along the border with Germany, where a majority of the former Austrian citizens were speaking
German languageGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
, tried to join
German AustriaThe Republic of German Austria was the initial rump state successor to the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I for areas with a predominantly German-speaking population...
(which in turn aimed to join Germany), but Czechoslovak troops prevented this. In 1919, all of Bohemia and
MoraviaMoravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...
was put under the
CzechoslovakCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
rule by the Treaty of St. Germain, including the large area stretching around central Bohemia and Moravia, which became as
SudetenlandSudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia associated with Bohemia.The name is derived from the...
a matter of political controversy in the following years. Slavs settled there again, but remained a minority. In 1938, after the
Munich AgreementThe Munich Agreement was an agreement permitting German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along borders of Czechoslovakia, mainly inhabited by Czech Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe...
, German troops occupied the
SudetenlandSudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia associated with Bohemia.The name is derived from the...
. The Czech population that had grown to about 5,000 people had to leave again.
In the final stages of the
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, German troops were retreating to escape the advancing
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
. Czech resistance took control of the castle on 27 April 1945, and after a few days they started negotiation with the Nazi commander about the terms of his surrender. The
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
capitulated in the night after 8 May, but German troops fled on 9 May just before Soviet troops entered the town on 10 May 1945. Most of the German population of the town was
expelledBy the end of World War II, most of the German population fled or was expelled from areas outside the territory of post-war Germany and post-war Austria, including:...
by
Beneš decreesThe Beneš decrees is a current popular term for a series of laws enacted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile during World War II in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament...
in August 1945 along with about 2.5 million other Czechoslovak citizens of German ethnicity.
Sights
The symbol of the city is a chalice, since the watchout tower on the Town Hall has this shape. There are numerous cellars connected by an extensive web of underground ways under the town. In some places the cellars were built in three floors. The ways are about three kilometers long and they belong to one of the longest in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, only 336 meters of these underground ways are open to public. One can notice the ancient town wall when entering the town. The original town wall was built in the Gothic style.
Population
- 1 December 1930 : 18,498
- 17 May 1939: 17,267
- 22 May 1947: 14,402
- 2 June 2004: 25,517
Notables
The greatest representative of Czech romanticism,
Karel Hynek MáchaKarel Hynek Mácha was a Czech romantic poet.- Biography :Mácha grew up in Prague, the son of a foreman at a mill. He learned Latin and German in school. He went on to study law at Prague University; during that time he also became involved in theater, where he met Eleonora Somkova, with whom he...
, died in Litoměřice, shortly after he had moved to the town, and was buried there. Later his grave was moved to Prague where he is buried now at the
Vyšehrad cemeteryEstablished in 1869 on the grounds of Vyšehrad Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, the Vyšehrad cemetery is the final resting place of many composers, artists, sculptors, writers, and those from the world of science and politics...
.
Josef JungmannJosef Jungmann was a Bohemian poet and linguist, and a leading figure of the Czech National Revival. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the modern Czech language.-Life:Jungmann was the sixth child of a cobbler. In his youth, he wanted to become a priest...
, creator of the modern Czech language, lived and taught here from 1799 to 1815.
Štěpán Cardinal TrochtaCardinal Štěpán Trochta was born on Cardinal Štěpán Trochta was born on Cardinal Štěpán Trochta was born on (March 26, 1905 in Francova Lhota. He was a Czech Salesian (monk) and Junák (Boy Scout). Pope Pius XII appointed him Bishop of Litoměřice in 1947. Trochta was spokesman of the...
was a bishop of Litoměřice from 1947.
The
Master of the Litoměřice AltarpieceThe Master of the Litoměřice Altarpiece was a Bohemian painter active from the end of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth. Active in the International Gothic style, he was one of the first practitioners of Renaissance art north of the Alps, and had a heavy influence on the...
received his name from this town.
Karel Pejml, co-founder of modern
historical climatologyHistorical climatology is the study of historical changes in climate and their effect on human history and development. This differs from paleoclimatology which encompasses climate change over the entire history of the earth...
, lived here from 1978 to 1989.
Ferdinand BlumentrittFerdinand Blumentritt Ferdinand Blumentritt Ferdinand Blumentritt (born September 10, 1853 in Prague, Czech Republic; died September 20, 1913 in Litoměřice (Leitmeritz), Czech Republic (in former Austro-Hungarian Empire) was a Sudeten-German teacher, secondary school principal in Litoměřice,...
, teacher, historian, ethnologist and close friend of the Philippine national hero
José RizalJosé Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda Quintos , was a Filipino polymath: a poet, writer, artist, intellectual, and educator. He was a nationalist and the pre-eminent advocate for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. Rizal's 1896 court-martial and execution made him...
, lived and taught here 1877 - 1913.
Kamil KrepsKamil Kreps is a Czech hockey player for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League.-Playing career:Kamil played his junior hockey in the OHL playing for the Brampton Battalion for 3 seasons...
, A professional Hockey Player that plays for the
Florida PanthersThe Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in Sunrise, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They play their games at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.-Franchise...
of the NHL
Josef Rudolf Zavrtal, composer and conductor
Sister Cities
Calamba CityCalamba City is a first class city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. Situated only 54 kilometers south of Manila, about an hour by chartered bus, Calamba City is a popular tourist destination with its hot spring resorts, most of which are located in Barangay Pansol, and the Canlubang Golf and...
, Philippines (1974)
MeissenMeissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...
, Germany (1996)
FuldaFulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
, Germany (2001) Dapitan, Philippines (2006)
ArmentieresArmentières is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France. It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole, and lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille, on the right bank of the river Lys....
, France
External links