Opava is a statutory city in Czech Silesia, a former centre of the Duchy of Opava and the capital of Austrian Silesia, and the seat of the Silesian University in Opava and the Silesian Museum in Opava.
Opava is a statutory city in Czech Silesia, in the Moravian-Silesian Region. According to the city's tourist information centre, it is an industrial and cultural centre of the region, and its importance reaches beyond the borders of the former district.[1]
Origins and the Middle Ages
Archaeological finds show that the area was settled as early as the Old Stone Age, and a Slavic hillfort stood in Kylešovice.[2] The medieval settlement arose in the 12th century at a ford across the Opava river, on a route between Moravia and Poland that formed part of the Amber Road.[2] According to the city's website the earliest mention of Opava dates from 1195, while the information centre gives 1201.[2][1] A charter of Přemysl Otakar I from 1224 confirms the town rights, which the town had probably obtained earlier, around 1215.[2] Opava is thus counted among the oldest privileged towns in the Czech lands.[1]
The centre of the town became Horní náměstí and its surroundings. The town was originally protected by a wooden palisade and later by stone walls with three gates: the Jaktař, Racibórz and Hradec gates. From the end of the 13th century it had its own mint.[2] As compensation for the damage suffered in the Mongol siege of 1241, Margrave Přemysl granted it in 1247 an exemption from customs duty and the right to hold an annual fair.[1] In 1281 Opava became the seat of a principality, and at the beginning of the 14th century it became the administrative centre of the Duchy of Opava, which had arisen as a part of the Bohemian Crown.[1]
Early modern period
In the 16th century the town was influenced by the Reformation, and before the Battle of White Mountain it was one of the Protestant centres. During the Thirty Years' War it was surrendered to the Danish king without a fight and was occupied several times by the Swedes. A fire in 1689 destroyed a large part of the town.[2] The Jesuits settled in Opava in 1625, and five years later their gymnasium was founded; in 1814 a museum was established at it, the predecessor of today's Silesian Museum in Opava.[2]
After the lost war with Prussia in 1742 most of Silesia passed to Prussia, and Opava became the capital of Austrian Silesia.[2] In 1820, after the defeat of Napoleon, a second congress of the victorious powers was held there, attended by representatives of the Holy Alliance and of Britain and France. They discussed a joint approach directed against the revolutionary movement in Italy.[1] Opava housed the provincial offices until 1928, when the Moravian-Silesian Land was created.[1] The railway reached the town in 1855.[1]
20th century
From 1938 to 1945 the town was the centre of one of the Sudeten districts. During the fighting at the end of the Second World War a large part of the town was damaged or destroyed, and more than 3,000 Soviet soldiers fell. After the war new residential districts arose, together with enterprises in the engineering, food, paper and pharmaceutical industries.[1]
Institutions and notable people
The city is the seat of the Silesian University in Opava, secondary schools and a number of cultural and scientific institutions. The Silesian Museum in Opava was founded on 1 May 1814 and is the oldest museum on the territory of the Czech Republic.[1] The poet Petr Bezruč was born and is buried in Opava; he called the town "White Opava". Johann Gregor Mendel studied at the local gymnasium. Natives include the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, the writer A. C. Nor and Joy Adamson.[1] Many of Opava's monuments are protected by the state heritage service, and the city is also known for the parks and gardens around the edge of the historic core.[1]
Pages linking here
- Capture of escaped prisoner at Tomkovo náměstí in Brno (2026)
- Gregor Mendel
- Jan Kubiš
- Methanol affair
- Milan Baroš
- Moravian-Silesian Region
- Natálie Tichánková
- Ostrava
- Thalia Award for Natálie Tichánková for the role of Eva Perón
- University of Ostrava