Žďár nad Sázavou is a district town on the border of Bohemia and Moravia, in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, that grew up around a Cistercian monastery founded in 1252.
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Žďár nad Sázavou is a district town on the border of Bohemia and Moravia, in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, in the middle of the Žďárské vrchy Protected Landscape Area.[1] Its history is linked with a Cistercian monastery and reaches back to the middle of the 13th century.[1]
Basic facts
The town is divided into the districts Žďár nad Sázavou 1 to 8, Mělkovice, Radonín, Stržanov and Veselíčko. The cadastral areas are named Město Žďár, Zámek Žďár, Stržanov and Veselíčko u Žďáru nad Sázavou. The total area is 3,706 ha. According to the town's figures, Žďár nad Sázavou had 19,962 inhabitants on 24 January 2023, and the average age was put at 44.5 years in 2020.[1]
Foundation and the Middle Ages
The settlement of Žďár arose beside a Cistercian monastery founded in 1252 by Boček of Obřany. It stood briefly in the place now called Na starém městě and was then moved to the left bank of the Sázava, the site of today's historic core.[1] Žďár is first mentioned as a market town in a charter of 1293. Land registers from 1407 record 93 holdings in the market town, 97 in 1462 and as many as 104 in 1483.[1]
Elevation to a town and the early modern period
In 1588 the monastery came under the authority of the Bishopric of Olomouc. The monastery did not recognise the new arrangement, which led to a long dispute in which the market town sided with the monastery. The dispute was ended by Cardinal František of Dietrichstein, who dissolved the monastery in 1606 and in 1607 reached a diplomatic settlement with the market town. At that time he raised it to a town and granted it new privileges and a new coat of arms. The former monastery estate later became the cardinal's private property.[1]
In 1638 the Cistercian order bought the Žďár estate from the estate of Cardinal Dietrichstein, and the Cistercians returned to Žďár. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, in 1642, the Swedes attacked the monastery, but armed townspeople defended it. In 1647 the Swedes plundered the town.[1] In 1704 Emperor Leopold I confirmed the town's privileges and enlarged its coat of arms. The abbot's coat of arms and the coat of arms of the Žďár monastery were added to the arms of 1607. The town still uses this extended coat of arms.[1]
After the dissolution of the monastery by Emperor Joseph II, the monastery estate passed to the administration of the Moravian Religious Fund. After its sale, the estate had several owners in succession.[1]
Santini's buildings and World Heritage
The former monastery acquired its present form in extensive reconstructions under Abbot Václav Vejmluva in the first half of the 18th century. The reconstructions were designed by the architect Jan Blažej Santini Aichel.[1] According to the town, the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora is the peak of his work. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 1994.[1]
The 19th and 20th centuries
After the new political organisation that followed 1848, Žďár became the seat of a judicial district in 1850, while the political district had its seat in Nové Město na Moravě.[1] In the second half of the 19th century national life developed in the town and a number of cultural societies were founded. From 1884 to 1901 the first Czech professional forestry writer and editor, Jan Doležal (1847 to 1901), worked here. For the Žďár cultural societies the town built the National House, today's Town Theatre, opened in 1901.[1]
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the first larger enterprises appeared, mainly footwear manufacturers. A railway was built and further industrial enterprises arose.[1] With the construction of the Žďár engineering works and foundries, the population grew sharply in the 1950s. The character of the town and the landscape changed: extensive reconstruction of the town began, an administrative and commercial centre arose and new housing estates appeared on the edge of the town.[1]