Tábor is a town in South Bohemia whose historic core arose on a spur above the river Lužnice, where in the 13th century a royal town and the castle of Hradiště stood and where in 1420 the Hussites founded the seat of their movement.
The historic core of Tábor lies on a spur above the river Lužnice in South Bohemia. The spur has a roughly pentagonal shape, is about 500 metres long and around 400 metres wide, slopes to the southwest and rises steeply to a height of 60 metres above the river valley. It is protected from the southeast and southwest by the deep valley of the Lužnice, and from the north and west by the equally deep valley of the Tismenický potok stream. Thanks to this position it was a naturally fortified place [1].
Earliest settlement
Archaeological finds show that the spur was settled already in prehistory, but a more detailed knowledge of this period is still lacking. It is certain that medieval settlement existed here from the 13th century [1].
The Vítkovci and Ottokar II of Bohemia
Interest in the place was shown first by the Vítkovci, the most powerful noble family in Bohemia, and then also by King Ottokar II of Bohemia. A dispute between the monarch and the Vítkovci led to the king seizing the Vítkovci property and founding a royal town with a castle there between 1270 and 1272. The Vítkovci phase of settlement is documented by a mention of the brothers Konrád and Hněvek of Hradiště from 1267, who were probably vassals of Oldřich of Hradec. It is also indirectly documented by the predicate of Vítek of Klokoty from the first half of the 13th century [1].
Most of the objects and layers identified archaeologically so far come from the Přemyslid phase, on an area of about seventeen hectares occupied by Tábor's historic core. A stone castle was built at that time, whose construction differed from the predominantly wooden town buildings. The town probably had a regular chessboard layout, traces of which are partly visible in today's winding street network, although the Hussite settlement later transformed it. This plan was connected with the colonisation policy of Ottokar II of Bohemia and, although it was never fully realised, it influenced the further development of the town's layout [1].
Destruction and abandonment of the town
The town was destroyed and abandoned around 1276 during the revolt of the Vítkovci. After this destruction only a small part of the spur remained settled, and its dominant feature remained the castle. From the mid-14th century the castle was probably held by the lords of Ústí, and the first written mention of it dates from 1370. In the 14th century the church of St Philip and St James, first mentioned in written sources in 1388, was also built near the castle [1].
The founding of Hussite Tábor
The area of the spur with the remains of the castle and of the vanished town of Hradiště lay deserted for almost 150 years. The strategic position above the Lužnice was not forgotten, however, and in 1420 it was used to found the power centre of the Hussite movement, called Hradiště hory Tábor and later shortened to Tábor. In February 1420 followers of the chalice, who came mainly from Sezimovo Ústí and other places and sought refuge here, settled in the remains of the original settlement [1].
Chronology
- — The South Bohemian Region began construction of a realignment of road II/137 between Tábor and Slapy, which will include a new bridge over the Lužnice and on which the region will spend over 853 million koruna. → Deník: České Budějovice / Jižní Čechy Budějcká Drbna
Pages that link here
- Motorcycle accident on road I/19 near Pelhřimov on 4 October 2026
- Plzeň
- South Bohemian Region
- Start of construction of the relocation of road II/137 between Tábor and Slapy
- Svatava
- Terezín