Blšany (german: Flöhau) is a town in

Louny District Louny District ( cs, okres Louny) is one of seven districts ('' okres'') located within the Ústí nad Labem Region in the Czech Republic. Its administrative center is the town of Louny. Louny is the largest district in the Ústí nad Labem region ...

in the

Ústí nad Labem Region Ústí nad Labem Region or Ústecký Region ( cs, Ústecký kraj, , ), is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of the historical land of Bohemia, and named after the capital, Ústí nad Labem ...

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 1,000 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Villages of Liběšovice, Malá Černoc, Siřem, Soběchleby and Stachov are administrative parts of Blšany.

Geography

Blšany is located about southwest of

Louny Louny (; german: Laun) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 18,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic) ...

, southwest of

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...

, and west of

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 ...

. The northern part of the municipal territory lies in the

Most Basin The Most Basin (also known as North Bohemian Basin; cs, Mostecká pánev, german: Nordböhmisches Becken) is a tectonic Depression (geology), depression and Geomorphological division of the Czech Republic, geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech ...

. The southern part lies in the

Rakovník Uplands Rakovník (, german: Rakonitz) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Rakovník ...

and includes the highest point of Blšany, the hill Hůrka at above sea level. The

Blšanka Blšanka is a river, a right tributary of the Ohře, of the Ústí nad Labem Region in northwest Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. It is 50.8 km long, and its basin area is 483 km2. It flows into the Ohře near Žatec Žatec (; german: ...

River flows through the town.

History

The first written mention of Blšany is from 1238, when the village was a property of the

Waldsassen Abbey Waldsassen Abbey (German: ''Abtei Waldsassen'') is a Cistercian nunnery, formerly a Cistercian monastery, located on the River Wondreb at Waldsassen near Tirschenreuth, Oberpfalz, in Bavaria, Germany, close to the border with the Czech Republic. ...

. Between 1238 and 1252, a small town was founded on the site of the village. From 1938 to 1945, Blšany was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and administered as part of the

Reichsgau Sudetenland The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the ''Sudetenland'' territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. ...

Economy

Blšany is located in an area known for growing hops.

Sport

Blšany is known nationwide for its football club

FK Chmel Blšany FK Chmel Blšany was a Czech football club based in the village of Blšany. The club played in the Czech First League between 1998 and 2006 and was the first professional club of goalkeeper Petr Čech. The club disbanded in 2016 after resigning ...

, which played in the

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

between 1998 and 2006. Blšany is the smallest town where the Czech First League was played.

Sights

The main landmark of Blšany is the Church of Saint Michael. It was built in the Baroque style in 1716–1717 and rebuilt in 1825.

Notable people

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

spent several months in convalescence in the village of Siřem after

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

was diagnosed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blsany Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Louny District