Zábřeh

Zábřeh [The official name of the town is "Zábřeh". "Zábřeh na Moravě", sometimes used to refer to the town, is the name of a railway station in "Zábřeh".] (IPA2|ˈzaːbr̝ɛx, _de. Hohenstadt) is a town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 14,500 inhabitants. The town itself is built up "behind the bank" ("za břehem") of the Moravská Sázava river.

History

Zábřeh has a long and rich past. The first note about the town is dated back to 13th century, to the year 1254 to be exact, when a man of the name Sulislav from Zábřeh was mentioned. We know for sure that the city itself was founded before the year 1289, because of the name Hohenstadt appeared in sources. However, we can’t talk about a town for now. Most likely there was a fortress around which a plantation began to grow and change into a town gradually.

The ownership of Zábřeh can be ascribed to many famous houses of the time. The most famous one and probably the most cruel one was the house of Tunkl‘s. Their ownership of the town dates back to the year 1442. The house was known for its countless arguments with neighbouring masters and also for its behaviour towards its vassals. However, they rebuilt the fortress and changed it into a castle, they had also a merit in pond foundation around the river Moravská Sázava. The struggle of vassals against their master Jiří Sr. Tunkl in between the years 1492 – 1494 marked the end of this house. Then the town came under the mastership of the house Trčkové from Lípa, but only for a little while. The house was replaced by a more powerful one – the Boskovicové.

The town went through a lot during further years. The situation got better in 18th century, when the castle was rebuilt once again and extended along with a baroque parish church. In 19th century a famous Prague - Olomouc railway began to grow marking Zábřeh as a powerful centre of economy, government and cultural life.

The year 1918, when the Czechoslovakia came into being, meant for Zábřeh the beginning of good, but short period. The Munich dictate tore Zábřeh from the rest of the republic and marked it as a German town. Hitler's soldiers marched into the town victoriously, greeted by German inhabitants of Zábřeh.

After World War II, the town naturally evolved alike other town and cities in the republic. Nowadays the town belongs to Olomouc Region, Šumperk District.

Famous natives

* František Kahlik (1854 - 1908) - a teacher, a historian and a geographer, Kahlik founded the first Czech grammar-school in north-west Moravia in the year 1896. His son Václav Kálik was a known composer.
* Josef Macek (1887 - 1972) - a politician and an economist, Macek was connected with the University of business in Prague and lately with the university of Pittsburgh.
* Magdalena Vizovská - born in one of the town's oldest house "Dům pod podloubím" located on Masaryk's square Vizovská is best known as a wife of famous Jan Amos Komenský.
* Jan Eskymo Welzl (1868 - 1948) - a traveller, a polar explorer, a gold-digger and most importantly an adventurer.

Twin Towns

Zábřeh is twinned with
* Handlová in Slovakia
* Ochsenfurt in Germany

Biography

* MELZER, Miloš, SCHULZ, Jindřich a kol. "Vlastivěda šumperského okresu". Šumperk : Okresní vlastivědné muzeum Šumperk, 1993. 585 s. ISBN 80-85083-02-7.

Note

External links

* [http://www.zabreh.cz/ Official website] cs icon