Ústí nad Orlicí (; german: Wildenschwert) is a town in the

Pardubice Region Pardubice Region ( cs, Pardubický kraj; , ; pl, Kraj pardubicki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located mainly in the eastern part of its historical region of Bohemia, with a small part in northwestern Moravia. It ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The town lies in the

Orlické Mountains The Orlické Mountains ( cs, Orlické hory, pl, Góry Orlickie, german: Adlergebirge) or Eagle Mountains are a mountain range located mainly in northeastern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is a mesoregion of the Central Sudetes. They follow ...

on the confluence of the rivers Tichá Orlice and Třebovka. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

Administrative parts

Town parts of Hylváty, Kerhartice and Knapovec and villages of Černovír, Dolní Houžovec, Horní Houžovec and Oldřichovice are administrative parts of Ústí nad Orlicí.

Etymology

The name ''Ústí'' means literally "mouth (of the river)". It refers to its location on the confluence of rivers. The German name ''Wildenschwert'' was created by a distortion of the original German name ''Wilhelmswerd'', which referred to one of colonizers on the area, Wilhelm von Dürnholz, and meant "Wilhelm's promontory".

History

Ústí nad Orlicí was founded in the second half of the 13th century, during the reign of

Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar II ( cs, Přemysl Otakar II.; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his deat ...

. It predecessor was a Slavic settlement called ''Oustí''. The first written mention of the town was in 1285, when the King

Wenceslaus II Wenceslaus II Přemyslid ( cs, Václav II.; pl, Wacław II Czeski; 27 SeptemberK. Charvátová, ''Václav II. Král český a polský'', Prague 2007, p. 18. 1271 – 21 June 1305) was King of Bohemia (1278–1305), Duke of Cracow (1291–1 ...

gifted the town to

Zavis of Falkenstein Zavis of Falkenstein ( cs, Záviš z Falkenštejna; – 24 August 1290), a member of the noble house of Vítkovci, was a Bohemian noble and opponent of King Ottokar II. Biography Zavis was a scion of the Vítkovci lords of Krumlov, his f ...

. In 1292, after Zavis' death, Wenceslaus II gifted the settlement to the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monks at Königsaal. They passed the town to the Leitomischl bishopric in 1358. During the 15th and 16th centuries, it was owned by various noble families, including was the Kostka of Postupice or the

Pernštejn family The Pernštejn (german: Pernstein) was one of the seven Moravian dynasty families and the most important (uradel) family originating from Moravian nobility. The first mentioned member of House of Pernštejn lived in the 13th century. They took th ...

. The town was damaged by a large fire in 1495. After the

Battle of White Mountain ), near Prague, Bohemian Confederation(present-day Czech Republic) , coordinates = , territory = , result = Imperial-Spanish victory , status = , combatants_header = , combatant1 = Catholic L ...

, Ústí was acquired by the Liechtenstein family. There were

guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

of weavers established here in the 16th century. The town was slow to recover from the lootings of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, then was destroyed by fire in 1705. It gained municipal status in 1795. When Wildenschwert was connected to the railway network by the

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on th ...

–

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

line in 1845, the textile business boomed. It gained the tagline of ''The Manchester of Eastern Bohemia'', and became an important textile centre. It was an important railway junction and from 1850 became a regional centre. It was a German-speaking town in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

until it was allocated to Czechoslovakia in 1918 at the conclusion of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Ústí nad Orlicí as it was now called remained an important textile town, and in the 1960s the Cotton Researching Institute developed the

Open end spinning Open-end spinning is a technology for creating yarn without using a spindle. It was invented and developed in Czechoslovakia in Výzkumný ústav bavlnářský / Cotton Research Institute in Ústí nad Orlicí in 1963.Carl A Lawrence (2010) ''Adva ...

technique that provided a faster alternative to

ring spinning Ring spinning is a spindle-based method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a contin ...

Demography

Sights

Mírové Square is a regular rectangular square with a floor plan preserved since the founding of the town. The square is surrounded by valuable arcaded houses. In the middle of the square is Marian column from 1737. The Baroque town hall was built in 1721–1723 and replaced the old town hall destroyed by fire. A school was built next to it in 1793. In 1850, the two buildings were structurally connected. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a late Baroque building from 1770–1776. The adjoining deanery building is from 1742–1748.

Notable people

František Martin Pecháček František Martin Pecháček, also ''Francis Martin Pechatschek, Pechaczek, Behatschek'' (10 November 1763 in Ústí nad Orlicí - 26 September 1816 in Vienna) was a Bohemian violinist, pedagog, arranger and diligent composer. His son Franz Pe ...

(1763–1816), composer *

Leopold Jansa Leopold Jansa (23 March 1795, Wildenschwert ( cs, Ústí nad Orlicí), far north-east Bohemia, Austrian Empire – 25 January 1875, Vienna) was a Bohemian violinist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Wildenschwert, Austria-Hungary (present ...

(1795–1875), violinist and composer *

Fritz Löhner-Beda Fritz Löhner-Beda (24 June 1883 – 4 December 1942), born Bedřich Löwy, was an Austrians, Austrian Libretto, librettist, lyricist and writer. Once nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remain popular today. He was murdered in Monowitz ...

(1883–1942), Jewish author *

Jaroslav Kocian Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

(1883–1950), violinist *

Oldřich Marek Oldřich Marek (3 April 1911–1986) was a Czechoslovak entomologist and teacher, and a member of Czechoslovak entomological society in Prague starting in 1940. Life Oldřich Marek was born on 3 April 1911 in Ústí nad Orlicí. He attended Prima ...

(1911–1986), entomologist * Emila Medková (1928–1985), photographer *

Martin Netolický Martin Netolický (born 22 September 1982, in Ústí nad Orlicí) is a Czech politician, Governor of Pardubice Region Pardubice Region ( cs, Pardubický kraj; , ; pl, Kraj pardubicki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republi ...

(1956–1999), politician * Roman Dostál (born 1970), biathlete * Zdeňka Žádníková-Volencová (born 1974), actress *

(born 1982), politician *

Michal Šlesingr Michal Šlesingr (; born 3 February 1983) is a Czech former biathlete. Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union. Olympic Games :''*The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.'' World Championships '' ...

(born 1983), biathlete *

Ondřej Moravec Ondřej Moravec (; born 9 June 1984) is a former Czech biathlete. Life and career Moravec represented the Czech Republic at the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he won silver medals in both the pursuit and the mixed r ...

(born 1984), biathlete *

Jaroslav Kulhavý Jaroslav Kulhavý (; born 8 January 1985 in Ústí nad Orlicí), is a Czech mountain biker Career For the first time, he became more aware of himself in 2003, when he became junior champion of the world and Europe. As a result, he also looked ...

(born 1985), mountain biker, Olympic winner * Kamil Vacek (born 1987), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Ústí nad Orlicí is twinned with: *

Amberg Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town. History The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under t ...

, Germany *

Bystrzyca Kłodzka Bystrzyca Kłodzka ( cs, Kladská Bystřice, german: Habelschwerdt) is a historic town in Kłodzko County, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in southwestern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Bystrzyca Kłodzka. As of December 2021, the ...

, Poland *

Massa Martana Massa Martana (near the well attested ancient site of the '' Vicus Martis Tudertium'' on the Via Flaminia) is an ancient Italian town and ''comune'' in the Monti Martani mountain range in the province of Perugia (Umbria). It is 10 km N ...

, Italy * Neukölln (Berlin), Germany *

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

, Slovakia

Gallery

Ústí nad Orlicí, Hernychova vila Dm269166-4392 IMG 6650 2018-08-04 18.03.jpg, Hernych's villa Ústí nad Orlicí, Socha Panny Marie Dm447696-3780 IMG 6661 2018-08-04 18.10.jpg, Marian column Ústí nad Orlicí, Socha Bubnující legionář Dm422816-3778 IMG 6676 2018-08-05 09.20.jpg, ''Bubnující legionář'' Sculpture

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Usti nad Orlici Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Ústí nad Orlicí District Shtetls Jewish communities in the Czech Republic House of Liechtenstein