Praha 21 is a city district and administrative district of the Capital City of Prague that corresponds to the cadastral area of Újezd nad Lesy, lying in the southeast of Prague on the border with the Central Bohemian Region.
Praha 21 is a city district of the Capital City of Prague that coincides with the cadastral area of Újezd nad Lesy. It lies in the southeast of Prague and forms part of the boundary between the capital and the Central Bohemian Region.[1]
History
The origin of Újezd can be dated to the second half of the 13th century, when a street-type village arose along the road leading from Koloděje. The road formed the axis of the village green, whose centre was a farmstead and a church with a cemetery.[1]
The oldest written record of the village dates from 1309. Its owner at the time, Vítek of Švábenice and Heřmanice, pledged the village of Sibřina and Újezd to the Zderaz monastery as security for a debt for cloth and pepper bought on credit from Prague burghers. Because he did not repay the debt by the agreed date, both villages passed to the monastery on 29 July 1309.[2]
The background of this relationship goes back to 1190, when the brothers Kojata and Všebor of the Hrabišic family brought the Order of the Knights of the Cross, Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, to Bohemia and founded a house for them at Zderaz, next to the Church of St Peter and Paul, which had existed since 1115. Kojata died childless in 1227 and Všebor in 1238. Their property was inherited by Idík of Švábenice, husband of Všebor's daughter Markéta and later burgrave of Olomouc, the father of the Vítek mentioned above. Kojata, Všebor and their descendants bequeathed to the monastery villages in the Žatec, Litoměřice and Plzeň regions, while Vítek considerably diminished the family estate through his generosity. He died in 1312 and was buried in the family tomb in the Church of St Peter and Paul at Zderaz, where his father Idík and the founders of the convent, Kojata and Všebor, already rested.[2]
According to the source, the Zderaz monastery of the Knights of the Cross was among the richest monasteries in Bohemia and in Moravia. It held the right of patronage over the Újezd church of St Bartholomew, so it decided on the filling of the parish, and it also ran several hospitals. Its coat of arms showed a double red cross on black cloth. On 31 July 1419 the Hussites broke into the monastery and plundered it.[2]
The history of Újezd is closely tied to that of neighbouring Koloděje, from which Újezd separated only in 1921. The Koloděje stronghold is first mentioned in 1346, and the settlement itself is older. The source derives the name Koloděje from the koloději, that is, wheelwrights, who settled at the ford across the Rokytka and repaired damaged carts there.[2]
The name Újezd nad Lesy arose on 7 February 1922 for an independent municipality that until 1921 had been mostly part of Koloděje. Újezd nad Lesy was incorporated into Prague on 1 July 1974 together with Běchovice, Klánovice and Koloděje and became part of the then Prague 9. The separate administrative district of Praha 21 was established in July 2001.[1] The school has two kitchens, in Staroklánovická and Polesná streets, and most of the sick had eaten from the kitchen in Polesná, which according to the town hall is to be out of operation for several weeks, while the kitchen in Staroklánovická street was due to start operating again on 8 October 2026. [3] From 30 September 2026 healthy children could return to the school, and lunches are for now delivered to it by an external company. [6] The Prague Hygiene Station set conditions for restoring the operation of the school kitchens, including full disinfection of the premises, negative tests of staff for salmonella and a review of hygiene procedures. [6] The police have been examining the case since the end of September 2026 on suspicion of endangering health with defective food through negligence, and on 7 October 2026 the district council, as the founder of the school, filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator. [3] As of 7 October 2026 hygienists had recorded 485 sick people, 272 of whom were laboratory-confirmed; since the beginning of the epidemic 103 people had been hospitalised and five patients remained in hospitals. [3] A salmonellosis epidemic broke out after the lunch served on 21 September 2026 in the canteen of Masaryk Primary School in Újezd nad Lesy; according to the Prague Hygiene Station, insufficiently heat-treated eggs past their expiry date were used in the kitchen. [3] Hygienists have so far recorded no case of salmonellosis in anyone who did not eat the school lunch. [5] The school is attended by about 1,100 children, and two nursery schools and a care service also took meals from the school canteen. [5]
Administrative status
Praha 21 is one of the 57 self-governing units into which Prague is divided under Act No. 131/2000 Coll., and at the same time one of the 22 administrative districts of the capital. It also performs state administration for the neighbouring districts of Praha-Koloděje, Praha-Klánovice and Praha-Běchovice.[1]
Area and population
The total area of Praha 21 is 1,015 hectares. Of this, 175 ha is arable land, 152 ha gardens, 2 ha orchards, 516 ha forest land, 8 ha water bodies, 51 ha built-up areas and 96 ha other areas. On 31 December 2013 the district had 10,396 inhabitants with an average age of 37 years.[1]
What to visit
According to the source, Újezd nad Lesy has a local museum and a library, and visitors can also walk the educational trail in the Klánovice Forest.[1] On 1 October 2026, shortly before noon, firefighters and police went to Hodkovská street for a gas leak, in which a pipe was pierced during work on a connection; firefighters evacuated seven people from nearby family houses and nobody was injured. [4]
Sources
- Městská část Praha 21 — 5 March 2015
- Městská část Praha 21 — 26 June 2014
- Pražský patriot — 7 October 2026
- Pražský deník — 1 October 2026
- Pražský deník — 7 October 2026
- Pražský patriot — 29 September 2026