Vsetín
Encyclopedia
Vsetín (ˈfsɛciːn) is a town in Zlín Region
of the Czech Republic
. It has around 28,500 inhabitants and lies on the Vsetínská Bečva
river.
The area around Vsetín, called Vsetínsko, is spread out on the foothills of the Vsetín, Hostýn and Vizovice Highlands
around the Bečva River. This area features the remains of log houses and cultural monuments of significant importance mainly in Vsetín itself.
The folk culture has been kept alive by Wallachian
song and dance groups for many decades. Originally a small town, Vsetín has become an important centre of industrial, economic, cultural and sports life during the last century.
River in Moravia-Slovakia border line was not inhabited before the Middle Ages. Man was discouraged from establishing permanent farm settlements in this region by its hilly landscape, deep forest valleys and forceful streams. Traces of settlement from primeval times in Vsetín and the surrounding area are therefore almost negligible.
The first historical records mentioning Vsetín originated in documents dated 1297–1308 and relate to the very beginning of settlement in this area. While records from 1297 mention the Vsetín region only as an area by the Bečva river, the document dated 1308 clearly describes it. In the aforesaid document a little town named Setteinz is mentioned with a church, a mill and the Freudsberg Castle and further colonization in the valley around Rokytnice is described. The Templar Knights owned Vsetín (Setteinz) at that time and rented it to Vok of Kravaře in 1308. The name of Wssetin appeared in documents from 1396 while the first entry of Vsetín Dominion in the provincial registry was implemented as late as 1505. Vsetín was successively held by other noble families, mainly of Cimburk (see the coat-of-arms in the picture), Saint Jura and Pezinek, Kunštát, Šelmberk, followed by nobility of Pernštejn, and others.
" - see Moravian Wallachia
.
(Valdštejn), a well-known Emperor's commander married a rich widow Lukrecia Nekšová of Landek and became the owner of Vsetín. He brought Jesuits to Vsetín dominion and initiated a strict re-Catholitization among serfs. Religious suppression was linked with economic suppression, as well. The resistance of the serfs led Valdštejn to make concessions, among others was the issuing of the privilege from 1612 which changed the duty of statutory labour of the Vsetín serfs into permanent wages.
The dissatisfaction of Wallachs, but also the betrayal Valdštejn experienced at the anti-Habsburg
rebellion of the Moravian
nobility, was the key reason for long-term Wallachian rebellions during the Thirty Years' War
(see Moravian Wallachia#History). Vsetín became their centre. Rebels continually resisted despite Vsetín being burned and many people executed in 1627. By 1642 rebels were fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Swedish
army, but at the end they were defeated on January 26, 1644 by the Emperor's army. Some 200 participants of the rebellion were executed in Vsetín and it remains one of the most dreadful in the nation's history. Vsetín and villages in a wide surrounding area were burned. Non-Catholic religion was a unifying element of the rebels and the importance of the rebellion, aimed at the noble objective of freedom of religious conscience was highly appreciated by Jan Ámos Komenský, the Bishop of Unitas Fratrum
and the key personality of post-Bílá Hora emigration.
noble family, the Earls of Illésházy, who owned it for almost 180 years and had the most profound impact on its development. During the era of Jan of Illésházy, the orthodox Catholic, Protestants repeatedly rebelled. The situation resulted in bloody rebellions and submission of petitions, even at the Emperor's Court, the last time in 1780 when the emperor, Josef II
, visited Vsetín. It was not until the Tolerance Patent
issued in 1781 when this atmosphere cooled down. Today, baroque statues and crosses in the town and surrounding area are reminders of Earl Jan of Illésházy's time.
, dramatically affected by war, settled in this location. This newly established settlement, called Lower Town, was granted a status of autonomous municipality, having the municipality magistrate as the only commonality with the existing Vsetín of that time. The Upper and Lower Towns often argued regarding such things as taxes, land and markets. One of the disputed pieces of land in the centre of the town is still called the "Svárov" (Place of Dispute). It was not until 1849 that the Upper and Lower Towns merged. In the meantime the town was devastated by the Turks and Tartars between 1663–1683, followed by Hungarian rebels. The year 1708 was the most dramatic moment as Hungarian rebels called Kuruci attacked the town and burned it almost to the ground. There were only burnt walls remaining of the original Castle. It took decades for Vsetín to recover from that damage.
, bringing into use the vast stock of wood in the surrounding beech and fir forests. A sugar factory, a steam saw mill, a factory producing matches and a glass works were founded in 1868 and were the first factories in Vsetin. In the late 19th century, Vsetín became an important centre of industrial production of bent-wood furniture in the factories of Jacub and Josef Kohn and the Thonet Brothers, which belonged to the top companies of the world for this kind of furniture.
In 1909, Vsetín became a district town and its importance grew in parallel with its economic boom. In 1885 the town was linked to an inland railway system, followed by the construction of schools, a hospital, a town power plant, water mains and other public facilities. Much of this was due to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who was a representative of East Moravian towns in the Imperial Council at that time. It was Josef Černocký, the long-term Mayor of the Town and Michal Urbánek, the well-known architect, who developed the biggest construction effort during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.
, mainly due to military production, the number of inhabitants doubled, reaching 14,000. New inhabitants were mainly represented by a group of employees from Zbrojovka who came from Brno
. During the war, several resistance groups were successively established, out of which J.Sousedík was one of most significant. Its members initiated collaboration with the Clay group connected with the exiled government in London and later with the 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka
which crossed the Moravian border at times of the Slovakian National Uprising
. Vsetín was liberated on May 4, 1945 by forces of the 1st Czechoslovak Army led by General Karel Klapálek.
The problems connected with the growth of the town are reflected mainly in the area of the construction of housing estates and the school system. The 1960 initiation of massive construction of panel housing estates in the outlying parts of the town only represented a partial solution to the problem. Between 1960 and 1990 the number of inhabitants in the town doubled, and at the moment there are some 31,000 people living in Vsetín.
After the fall of communism, many of the large previously state-owned factories in Vsetín ran into difficulties as they struggled to compete as part of the wider European economy. Largely these outdated industries were split up to form smaller, more efficient, new private companies, or were bought by foreign investors who were able to provide the capital necessary to modernise production. Although this resulted in high levels of unemployment never seen under communism, a gradual recovery took place during the 1990s and up until 2007, where ordinary workers saw their level of income rise steadily as the economy expanded. Foreign investment in the automotive industry in particular boosted employment greatly in Vsetín during this time but with the global recession of 2008-9, once again the problem of high unemployment is threatening the well-being of the town.
Since 1989 the appearance of Vsetín has evolved rapidly. Run-down buildings in the town centre were cleared to make way for the new House of Culture and the many grey 'Panelak' blocks of flats have been insulated and painted in a variety of pastel colours. In the villages around the town, modern family houses are beginning to appear, reflecting the growth of the middle class.
See also: :Category:People from Vsetín
Zlín Region
Zlín Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the central-eastern part of the historical region of Moravia. It is named after its capital Zlín....
of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. It has around 28,500 inhabitants and lies on the Vsetínská Bečva
Vsetínská Bečva
Vsetínská Bečva is a river in the Czech Republic, the left tributary of the Bečva River. It originates in the Javorníky mountain range at the elevation of 896 m and flows for 59.38 km to Valašské Meziříčí, where it joins with Rožnovská Bečva to form the Bečva River.It flows through numerous towns...
river.
The area around Vsetín, called Vsetínsko, is spread out on the foothills of the Vsetín, Hostýn and Vizovice Highlands
Vizovice Highlands
The Vizovice Highlands is an area of relatively modest but rugged highlands within the Zlin Region of the Czech Republic, named for the town of Vizovice....
around the Bečva River. This area features the remains of log houses and cultural monuments of significant importance mainly in Vsetín itself.
The folk culture has been kept alive by Wallachian
Moravian Wallachia
Moravian Wallachia is a mountainous region located in the easternmost part of Moravia, Czech Republic, near the Slovakian border. The name Wallachia was formerly applied to all the highlands of Moravia and neighboring Silesia, although in the nineteenth century a smaller area came to be defined...
song and dance groups for many decades. Originally a small town, Vsetín has become an important centre of industrial, economic, cultural and sports life during the last century.
Prehistory and beginning settlement
The landscape in valleys surrounding the BečvaBecva
The Bečva is a river in the Czech Republic. It is a left tributary of the river Morava. The Bečva is created by two source streams, the Northern Rožnovská Bečva and the Southern Vsetínská Bečva The Bečva is a river in the Czech Republic. It is a left tributary of the river Morava. The Bečva is...
River in Moravia-Slovakia border line was not inhabited before the Middle Ages. Man was discouraged from establishing permanent farm settlements in this region by its hilly landscape, deep forest valleys and forceful streams. Traces of settlement from primeval times in Vsetín and the surrounding area are therefore almost negligible.
The first historical records mentioning Vsetín originated in documents dated 1297–1308 and relate to the very beginning of settlement in this area. While records from 1297 mention the Vsetín region only as an area by the Bečva river, the document dated 1308 clearly describes it. In the aforesaid document a little town named Setteinz is mentioned with a church, a mill and the Freudsberg Castle and further colonization in the valley around Rokytnice is described. The Templar Knights owned Vsetín (Setteinz) at that time and rented it to Vok of Kravaře in 1308. The name of Wssetin appeared in documents from 1396 while the first entry of Vsetín Dominion in the provincial registry was implemented as late as 1505. Vsetín was successively held by other noble families, mainly of Cimburk (see the coat-of-arms in the picture), Saint Jura and Pezinek, Kunštát, Šelmberk, followed by nobility of Pernštejn, and others.
Colonization
The process of colonization in the 13th and 14th centuries created the structure of the settlement in the area, followed by the "clearing" colonization from 16th century which lead to the extension of farm land at the expense of forests. During the same period, goat dairy-farming spread out from the south, along the Carpathian mountains, as the Vlach (Romanian) migration reached its peak. Though the Vlachs eventually lost their language, being linguistically assimilated, this migration contributed to the specific traditional culture and the establishment of the historic name of the region, "WallachiaWallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
" - see Moravian Wallachia
Moravian Wallachia
Moravian Wallachia is a mountainous region located in the easternmost part of Moravia, Czech Republic, near the Slovakian border. The name Wallachia was formerly applied to all the highlands of Moravia and neighboring Silesia, although in the nineteenth century a smaller area came to be defined...
.
Thirty Years' War
At the first half of the 15th century a fortified settlement was built in the centre of today's Upper Town which was re-built into a castle at the beginning of the 17th century. Its high tower still dominates the town today. In 1609 Albrecht von WallensteinAlbrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
(Valdštejn), a well-known Emperor's commander married a rich widow Lukrecia Nekšová of Landek and became the owner of Vsetín. He brought Jesuits to Vsetín dominion and initiated a strict re-Catholitization among serfs. Religious suppression was linked with economic suppression, as well. The resistance of the serfs led Valdštejn to make concessions, among others was the issuing of the privilege from 1612 which changed the duty of statutory labour of the Vsetín serfs into permanent wages.
The dissatisfaction of Wallachs, but also the betrayal Valdštejn experienced at the anti-Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
rebellion of the Moravian
Moravians (ethnic group)
Moravians are the modern West Slavic inhabitants of the historical land of Moravia, the easternmost part of the Czech Republic, which includes the Moravian Slovakia. They speak the two main groups of Moravian dialects , the transitional Bohemian-Moravian dialect subgroup and standard Czech...
nobility, was the key reason for long-term Wallachian rebellions during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
(see Moravian Wallachia#History). Vsetín became their centre. Rebels continually resisted despite Vsetín being burned and many people executed in 1627. By 1642 rebels were fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
army, but at the end they were defeated on January 26, 1644 by the Emperor's army. Some 200 participants of the rebellion were executed in Vsetín and it remains one of the most dreadful in the nation's history. Vsetín and villages in a wide surrounding area were burned. Non-Catholic religion was a unifying element of the rebels and the importance of the rebellion, aimed at the noble objective of freedom of religious conscience was highly appreciated by Jan Ámos Komenský, the Bishop of Unitas Fratrum
Unitas Fratrum
This article is about the coordinating body of the Moravian Church worldwide. For the Christian denomination based in Texas see Unity of the Brethren....
and the key personality of post-Bílá Hora emigration.
Illésházy family
In 1653 Vsetín became the property of well-known HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
noble family, the Earls of Illésházy, who owned it for almost 180 years and had the most profound impact on its development. During the era of Jan of Illésházy, the orthodox Catholic, Protestants repeatedly rebelled. The situation resulted in bloody rebellions and submission of petitions, even at the Emperor's Court, the last time in 1780 when the emperor, Josef II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, visited Vsetín. It was not until the Tolerance Patent
Patent of toleration
The Patent of Toleration was an edict issued in 1781 by the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II of Austria. The Patent extended religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in Habsburg lands, including Lutherans, Calvinists, and the Greek Orthodox. Specifically, these members of minority faiths...
issued in 1781 when this atmosphere cooled down. Today, baroque statues and crosses in the town and surrounding area are reminders of Earl Jan of Illésházy's time.
Expansion and growth
As early as the Thirty Years' War, Vsetín extended from the original so-called Upper Town to the pastures spread out on the left bank of the Bečva river. In the 15th century a manor mill was founded here with a mill-race equipped with the "lapač" (a trap) for fishing. Today, a winter stadium called "Na Lapači" is situated here. Additionally, certain families of refugees from surrounding towns, mainly from Valašské MeziříčíValašské Mezirící
Valašské Meziříčí is a town in the Zlín Region, the Czech Republic. The town has 27,960 inhabitants.Vsetínská Bečva and Rožnovská Bečva rivers join in the town to form the Bečva River.-Main sights:* The Kinský Chateau...
, dramatically affected by war, settled in this location. This newly established settlement, called Lower Town, was granted a status of autonomous municipality, having the municipality magistrate as the only commonality with the existing Vsetín of that time. The Upper and Lower Towns often argued regarding such things as taxes, land and markets. One of the disputed pieces of land in the centre of the town is still called the "Svárov" (Place of Dispute). It was not until 1849 that the Upper and Lower Towns merged. In the meantime the town was devastated by the Turks and Tartars between 1663–1683, followed by Hungarian rebels. The year 1708 was the most dramatic moment as Hungarian rebels called Kuruci attacked the town and burned it almost to the ground. There were only burnt walls remaining of the original Castle. It took decades for Vsetín to recover from that damage.
Industrial Revolution
It was before the first half of 19th century when Vsetín and the surrounding area were influenced by the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, bringing into use the vast stock of wood in the surrounding beech and fir forests. A sugar factory, a steam saw mill, a factory producing matches and a glass works were founded in 1868 and were the first factories in Vsetin. In the late 19th century, Vsetín became an important centre of industrial production of bent-wood furniture in the factories of Jacub and Josef Kohn and the Thonet Brothers, which belonged to the top companies of the world for this kind of furniture.
In 1909, Vsetín became a district town and its importance grew in parallel with its economic boom. In 1885 the town was linked to an inland railway system, followed by the construction of schools, a hospital, a town power plant, water mains and other public facilities. Much of this was due to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who was a representative of East Moravian towns in the Imperial Council at that time. It was Josef Černocký, the long-term Mayor of the Town and Michal Urbánek, the well-known architect, who developed the biggest construction effort during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.
World War II
The furniture industry declined during the world economic crisis in the 1930s, followed by the limitation of production in other industrial companies. That situation resulted in a high level of unemployment in the area. This changed in 1937 with the construction of a new factory called Zbrojovka. However, at that time Vsetín was known for its production of electric engines in the Josef Sousedík factory. During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, mainly due to military production, the number of inhabitants doubled, reaching 14,000. New inhabitants were mainly represented by a group of employees from Zbrojovka who came from Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
. During the war, several resistance groups were successively established, out of which J.Sousedík was one of most significant. Its members initiated collaboration with the Clay group connected with the exiled government in London and later with the 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka
Jan Žižka
Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha , Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka"...
which crossed the Moravian border at times of the Slovakian National Uprising
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...
. Vsetín was liberated on May 4, 1945 by forces of the 1st Czechoslovak Army led by General Karel Klapálek.
Today
Post-war development of the town was influenced for many years by its fast growth during the war. The town experienced a considerable shortage of flats, shops, school premises and medical centres. Its orientation on the development of heavy industry and military production resulted in the closing down of a series of smaller industrial companies, mainly a knife-making plant and a plant producing glass beads used for the manufacture of electric cables. In connection with communist political development after February 1948, private trade successively declined. In the summer of 1949 Wallachian towns and municipalities organized an important local exhibition called Wallachia at Work. It took exactly 50 years to commemorate that exhibition by organizing a week long event called Valašské záření (Wallachian Shining).The problems connected with the growth of the town are reflected mainly in the area of the construction of housing estates and the school system. The 1960 initiation of massive construction of panel housing estates in the outlying parts of the town only represented a partial solution to the problem. Between 1960 and 1990 the number of inhabitants in the town doubled, and at the moment there are some 31,000 people living in Vsetín.
After the fall of communism, many of the large previously state-owned factories in Vsetín ran into difficulties as they struggled to compete as part of the wider European economy. Largely these outdated industries were split up to form smaller, more efficient, new private companies, or were bought by foreign investors who were able to provide the capital necessary to modernise production. Although this resulted in high levels of unemployment never seen under communism, a gradual recovery took place during the 1990s and up until 2007, where ordinary workers saw their level of income rise steadily as the economy expanded. Foreign investment in the automotive industry in particular boosted employment greatly in Vsetín during this time but with the global recession of 2008-9, once again the problem of high unemployment is threatening the well-being of the town.
Since 1989 the appearance of Vsetín has evolved rapidly. Run-down buildings in the town centre were cleared to make way for the new House of Culture and the many grey 'Panelak' blocks of flats have been insulated and painted in a variety of pastel colours. In the villages around the town, modern family houses are beginning to appear, reflecting the growth of the middle class.
Sport
The town is home to VHK Vsetín, throughout the 1990s the most successful ice hockey team in the country, winning the National League six times. However, as of 2010, they play in the third tier of Czech ice hockey competition.People
- Mirek TopolánekMirek TopolánekMirek Topolánek is a former prime minister of the Czech Republic and former President of the European Council. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, he was chairman of the center-right party between November 2002 and March 2010, succeeding Václav Klaus, who was elected President in 2003.On 24...
, former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and President of the European Council
See also: :Category:People from Vsetín
External links
- Official website
- Webcam
- http://www.vsetinvobrazech.cz - old pictures and photos of Vsetin