Uherské Hradiště is a town in the Zlín Region founded in 1257 by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, the natural centre of Slovácko.
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Uherské Hradiště is a town in the Zlín Region on the lower course of the Morava River. The town states that it was founded in 1257 and that it has long been the natural centre of Slovácko.[1][2]
Settlement and founding of the town
Settlement of the area is documented as far back as the Old Stone Age. At a crossroads of trade routes an island system of fortifications arose in the 8th and 9th centuries, and three islands on the Morava were settled by Slavs at the beginning of the 9th century. An important one was St George's Island, named after the chapel of St George. According to the town, the settlement area on the territory of today's Staré Město, Uherské Hradiště and Sady was one of the centres of Great Moravia, and after its fall its importance faded.[1]
In the 13th century south-eastern Moravia was the target of frequent raids. The Velehrad monastery, founded by Cistercians at the beginning of the century, suffered from them as well, and Abbot Hartlib therefore asked the ruler for protection. The royal counsellors, together with Bruno, Bishop of Olomouc, chose an island with a chapel and fishermen's huts. A charter of Ottokar II of Bohemia dated 15 October 1257 attests the founding of the town on land belonging to the Velehrad monastery, so that it would protect the convent and the border of the land.[1]
The inhabitants were settlers from Kunovice and Veligrad (Staré Město). For this reason two neighbouring market settlements arose in the town, each with a square, joined by Prostřední Street. A plot in the middle of that street was chosen in 1296 for the first town hall building.[1]
Name
The founding charter did not name the town. A charter of 1258 calls it New Velehrad, a name that was abandoned toward the end of the 13th century. It is first named Hradiště in 1294. The qualifier Uherské first appeared in 1587 and was used more often at the end of the 17th and in the 18th century.[1]
The ruler granted the town privileges, among them the right to hold two weekly markets and one annual fair. From the middle of the 14th century a second annual fair was added, so that it belonged among the towns with the most developed market regime in the kingdom.[1]
Present day
The historic core was declared an urban heritage zone in 1990, and in 2011 the town received the title Historic Town.[2] It is a municipality with extended powers, in whose administrative district more than 90 thousand people live according to the town, and it belongs to the Zlín Region. The administrative territory, with an area of 21.3 km², had 25,287 inhabitants according to data as of 31 December 2015 and consists of several parts, including Jarošov, Mařatice, Míkovice, Rybárny, Sady and Vésky.[2] The town lies at an altitude of 180 to 320 metres on the river branches of the Morava and the Olšava.[2]