HAVLICKUV BROD

   Havlickuv Brod lies in the heart of the Czech-Moravian Highlands and has been located on the banks of the Sázava River since the 12th century. Today the city is a blend of both past and present, and is home to more than 25,000 people. It is the cultural, economic, and political center of the northwest Highlands area, and its prevailing industries are textiles and food-processing.

   The city received the second half of its name, which means "ford," because of its location on the site where the Haberska Trail crosses the Sázava River. It was initially called only "Brod," and later "Smil's Brod," after one of the Lichtenburg nobles who owned the area. In that period, it became a mining town and its silver ore attracted a great number of German miners. At the beginning of the 1300's, the city's name changed again, this time to "German Brod." Thanks to the mines, the city continued to develop rapidly, as did its ownership - for example, it belonged to the Trčka family of Lípa and later to the Thurns.

Picture of old town from 1704

   The city center is comprised of a rectangular square with Renaissance and Baroque buildings (a diagonal road once led through the middle).

Havlíčkův Brod has a number of historic monuments that are connected with the legends and famous people from the city. On the Old Town Hall, the time is given by the skeleton of Hnát, a man who betrayed the city to enemies in the year 1472. The four patrons saints who were supposed to protect the city against the plague - St. Wenceslas, St. Andrew, St. Florián, and St. John of Nepomuk - are memorialized in the plague column that was built in 1725.

   The Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary was built near the square in the 13th century, and from its tower the "William" Bell - one of the oldest in the Czech Lands - has been ringing for 700 years. Further out from the center are additional monuments: the Augustinian Monastery with the Church of the Holy Family, the Church of the Trinity, the Churches of St. Vojtěch and St. Catherine, Štáfl's House, and others.

Picture of old town from 1872

   A number of famous people were either born or worked in the city and its environs, e.g., the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana attended high school here. Havlíček's House recalls the famous Czech journalist and writer Karel Havlíček Borovský, for whom the city was renamed in 1945.


Lipnice Castle

   Northwest of Havlíčkův Brod stands Lipnice Castle, which dominates the region and is said to be the location where Jaroslav Hašek wrote part of his famous novel, "The Good Soldier Schweik." Just a few kilometers north on the Sázava River is the village of Okrouhlice, where the painter Jan Zrzavý lived and worked.Originally gothic church of St John the Baptist in Krásná Hora he painted too.

Church in Krásná Hora

   In the general area of the city are several interesting monuments, including the large pilgrimage church in Pohled where pilgrims always used to gather for the Festival of St. Anna. Also located in Pohled is the Gothic Church of St. Andrew.