Ústí nad Labem is a statutory city in North Bohemia and the seat of the Ústí nad Labem Region.[2] It lies in the Elbe (Labe) valley within the České středohoří Protected Landscape Area. The Bílina flows into the Elbe within the city.[2] It is just under 90 km from Prague and 66 km from Dresden.[2] According to the Czech Statistical Office, Ústí nad Labem had 90,035 inhabitants on 1 January 2026.[3]*
Origins
People lived in the Bílina valley more than 20,000 years ago. In 1987 a mammoth hunters' settlement was discovered on the slope of Rovný hill near Stadice.[1] Around the middle of the first millennium Slavs settled in north-western Bohemia. According to a legend recorded in the Chronicle of Cosmas, Přemysl the Ploughman came from Stadice.[1] The first written mention of Ústí is in the foundation charter of the chapter at St Stephen's Church in Litoměřice of 1056 or 1057. Ústí is first referred to as a royal town at the beginning of 1249, in the reign of Wenceslas I.[1] In the 13th century it was surrounded by walls, and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built beside the older St Adalbert's Church. The role of guard castle on the Elbe passed to Střekov Castle, founded under King John of Luxembourg.[1]
History
During the Hussite Wars the town remained loyal to King Sigismund. On 16 June 1426 Hussite forces led by Prokop the Bald defeated near Ústí a Saxon army that was to relieve the besieged town. The Hussites then destroyed the town, which remained deserted for three years.[1] Renewed growth came under the Jagiellonians, together with the mining and processing of silver and tin in north-western Bohemia.[1] In the 1830s the walls and gates were demolished. Since 1856 the city has been home to a chemical works, today the Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production.[1] Steam navigation on the Elbe began in 1841, and in 1851 the railway from Prague through Ústí to Dresden opened. Around 1900 Ústí was the largest port in Austria-Hungary.[1] The population grew from 1,759 in 1830 to more than 29,000 in 1900. That year the suburbs of Krásné Březno and Klíše were incorporated and the population exceeded 37,000.[1] Trams first ran in 1899, and in 1909 the municipal theatre designed by Alexander Graf was built.[1]
The population was mostly German; according to the 1930 census Czechs made up just under 20%. Czechoslovak troops took control of the town on 12 December 1918.[1] Between 1923 and 1935 the T. G. Masaryk lock was built below Střekov, and in 1936 the Edvard Beneš Bridge.[1] From 9 October 1938 Ústí was part of Germany under the Munich Agreement. Air raids on 17 and 19 April 1945 destroyed the Ostrov quarter and hundreds of houses in the centre, and the tower of the Church of the Assumption was tilted by more than 2 m. According to the lowest estimates over four hundred people were killed.[1] Jan Evangelista Purkyně University was founded in 1991, and in 1998 the Marian Bridge over the Elbe was completed.[1]
Landmarks and culture
Historic and cultural sites include Střekov Castle, the Větruše chateau, the palatial villas, the Ústí nad Labem City Theatre and the Činoherní studio. Religious buildings include the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Church of St Paul the Apostle and St Adalbert's Church.[2] Technical monuments include the Masaryk lock, the Dr E. Beneš Bridge, the Marian Bridge and the steam waterworks at Střekov. The city is home to the Regional Museum in Ústí nad Labem.[2]