Jihlava

Geobox | settlement
name = Jihlava
native_name =
other_name =
category = Town
etymology =
official_name =
motto =
nickname =

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image_caption = City centre


flag_border = 1
symbol = Jihlava (CZE) - coat of arms.gif
country = Czech Republic
country_

state =
region = Vysočina
region_type = Region
district = Jihlava
district_type = District
municipality =
part =
river = Jihlava
location =
elevation = 525
lat_d = 49
lat_m = 24
lat_s = 01
lat_NS = N
long_d = 15
long_m = 35
long_s = 26
long_EW = E
highest =
highest_lat_d =
highest_long_d =
lowest =
lowest_lat_d =
lowest_long_d =
area = 78.85
population = 50676
population_date = 2006
population_density = auto
established = 1233
established_type = First documented
date =
mayor = Jaroslav Vymazal
timezone =

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map_background = Czechia - background map.png map_caption = Location in the Czech Republic
map_locator = Czechia
commons = Jihlava
statistics =
website = [http://www.jihlava.cz/] Jihlava;— official website

footnotes =

Jihlava ( Audio-IPA|Cs-Jihlava.ogg| [ˈjɪɦlava] ; German "Iglau") is a city in the Czech Republic. Jihlava is a centre of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava river (German "Igel") on the ancient frontier between Moravia and Bohemia, and is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic, ca. 50 years older than Kutná Hora.

Among the principal buildings are the early gothic churches of St. Jacob, Friars Minor church of Our Lady and Dominican church of Holy Cross, baroque church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Municipal Hall and number of municipal houses containing gothic and renaissance details. There is also a Jewish cemetery, containing some remarkable monuments including tombstone of the parents of Gustav Mahler.

An old Slavic settlement upon a ford (first mentioned in 1233) was moved on a nearby hill where the mining town was founded (ca. 1240) by king Václav I, in the Middle Ages inhabited mostly by Germans (coming mostly from Northern Bavaria and Upper Saxony). Medieval mines surrounded by mining settlement were localized outside the walls of medieval town (local name Stare Hory). According to legend, the silver mines were worked as early as 799. There is, however, no historical evidence for such statements.

In the era of the Hussite Wars, Jihlava remained a Catholic stronghold and managed to resist a number of sieges. Later at Jihlava, on July 5 1436, the treaty was made with the Hussites, by which the emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A marble relief near the town marks the spot where Ferdinand I, in 1527, swore fidelity to the Bohemian estates.

During the Thirty Years' War Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedes. In 1742 it fell into the hands of the Prussians, and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Wrede were defeated near the town. In 1860 it became the childhood home of Bohemian-Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, who retained his ties to the town until the death of both of his parents in 1889.

Before 1945, Jihlava was the center of the second largest German-speaking enclave in Czechoslovakia (after Schönhengst/Hřebečsko). After the end of World War II, the German inhabitants were either slain or evicted; it is estimated that hundreds died on the arduous trek to Austria.

ister cities

Jihlava currently has two sister city's:

* Purmerend, flagicon|Netherlands the Netherlands.
* Heidenheim, flagicon|Germany Germany.

External links

* [http://www.jihlava.cz/ Official Website]
* [http://www.dokument-festival.cz/ Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival]