Počátky

Počátky
Basic data
State :	Czech Republic
Region :	Kraj Vysočina
District :	Pelhřimov
Area :	3084 ha
Geographic location :	49 ° 16 ' N , 15 ° 15' E Coordinates: 49 ° 15 '47 " N , 15 ° 14' 33" E
Height:	620 m nm
Residents :	2,551 (Jan 1, 2019)
Postal code :	394 64
License plate :	J
traffic
Street:	Jindřichův Hradec - Horní Cerekev
Railway connection:	Veselí nad Lužnicí – Jihlava
structure
Status:	city
Districts:	6th
administration
Mayor :	Karel Štefl (as of 2018)
Address:	Palackého nám. 1 ; 394 64 Počátky
Municipality number:	548561
Website :	www.pocatky.cz

Počátky (German Potschatek , older also Potschaken ) is a city in the Czech Republic . It is located 21 kilometers northeast of Jindřichův Hradec and belongs to the Okres Pelhřimov . The center of Počátky was declared an urban monument zone.

geography

Palackého square

Počátky is located in the south of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands north of the Javořická vrchovina and is traversed by the Počátecký potok.

Neighboring towns are Polesí in the north, Heřmaneč in the northeast, Svatá Kateřina and Jihlávka in the east, Kaliště and Horní Vilímeč in the southeast, Vesce in the south, Stojčín in the southwest, Žirovnice and Cholunná in the west and Jabubín and Ctiboř in the northwest.

history

The town hall

The place arose in the second half of the 13th century in the Borek border forest on the border with Moravia. The first proven owner was Perchta von Kralovany, who brought the estate as a dowry into her marriage to Vítek von Švábenice . The first documentary mention of the market on the connecting road from Jindřichův Hradec to Jihlava was made in 1289 by the Prague bishop Tobias von Bechin , who banned employees of his Passau official brother Bernhard von Prambach because they had robbed Počátky.

When Heinrich III. von Neuhaus bought Počátky from the Lords of Hardegg on September 8, 1389 , the place was first referred to as a town. The city was further expanded under the von Neuhaus family . During the Hussite Wars, the Taborites besieged Počátky in 1425 in vain. According to Tomáš Pešina z Čechorodu , it was Meinhard von Neuhaus who in 1439 granted the town the privilege of fortification with masonry ramparts. Under Joachim von Neuhaus , it was incorporated into the Žirovnice estate in 1564 . In 1594 the Jesuit order in Jindřichův Hradec received the church patronage in Počátky, which he exercised until 1773. After the von Neuhaus family died out in 1604 with Lucie Ottilie von Neuhaus, the inheritance fell to her husband Wilhelm Slavata .

In the Thirty Years War Počátky was devastated by Swedish and imperial troops. In 1653 part of the city burned down, another city fire broke out in 1662. Via Anna Lucie Slavatová, who was married to Adolf Wratislaw von Sternberg (1624–1703), the inheritance of the extinct family of Slavata von Chlum and Koschumberg fell to the Sternbergers in the second half of the 17th century .

In the 18th century, the Katharinenbad was built northeast of the city at the foot of the 759 m high Lísek. Počátky bought himself out of subjection in 1783 and became a municipal town with its own magistrate. In 1821 another fire destroyed parts of the city. During the reconstruction, the ramparts and both city gates were removed. The town remained under the rule of Žirovnice until the abolition of patrimonial rule in 1848. In 1842, 2561 people lived in Počátky, who lived mainly from weaving and cloth making, but also from agriculture. The city became the seat of a district court in 1850, which was repealed in 1945. In the second half of the 19th century, the textile industry settled in Počátky. After 1900 Počátky developed into a resort. In particular, the healing water of the Katharinenbad and the clean air made the bath a meeting place for Prague society. In the Svatá Kateřina bath u. a. Julius Zeyer , Karel and Josef Čapek as well as Karel Burian as spa guests.

coat of arms

The 1698 by A dolf W Ratislaw Sternberg and A nna L ucie Slavatová created a new coat of arms on a blue background shows the golden initials both spouses. The golden star is the coat of arms of the Sternbergers and the likewise golden five-petalled rose reminds of the gentlemen of Neuhaus.

City structure

The town of Počátky consists of the districts Heřmaneč ( Hermanitz ), Horní Vilímeč ( Ober Wilimetsch ), Léskovec ( Leskowetz ), Počátky ( Potschatek ), Prostý ( Prostey ) and Vesce ( Wesetz ) and the locality Lázně Svaté Kateřiny ( St. Katharinenbad ).

The municipality is divided into the cadastral districts of Heřmaneč u Počátek, Horní Vilímeč, Léskovec, Počátky, Prostý and Vesce u Počátek.

Partner communities

Lokca , Slovakia
Konolfingen , Switzerland

Attractions

Church of John the Baptist, which has been documented since 1354, originally Gothic building was redesigned in Baroque style between 1688 and 1690
Corpus Christi church in the cemetery, built 1705–1711
baroque chapel of St. Anna
Baroque group of statues of St. John of Nepomuk with a fountain, at the market, created 1720
Baroque bath chapel of St. Catherine in Lázně Svaté Kateřiny, built in 1730
former spa in Lázně Svaté Kateřiny
Local museum
Birth house of Tomáš Pešina z Čechorodu
Otokar Březina's birthplace