Boskovice (; german: Boskowitz) is a town in
Blansko District
Blansko District ( cs, okres Blansko) is one of seven districts ('' okres'') within South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Blansko.
List of municipalities
Adamov -
Bedřichov -
Benešov -
Blansko -
Borotín -
B ...
in the
South Moravian Region
The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...
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 12,000 inhabitants. The area of the historic town centre, Jewish quarter, château complex and castle ruin is well preserved and is protected by law as an
urban monument zone.
Administrative parts
Villages of Bačov, Hrádkov, Mladkov and Vratíkov are administrative parts of Boskovice.
Geography
Boskovice is located about north of
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
. It lies on the border of the
Boskovice Furrow
Boskovice (; german: Boskowitz) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The area of the historic town centre, Jewish quarter, château complex and castle ruin is well prese ...
and
Drahany Highlands
Drahany is a market town in Prostějov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants.
Drahany lies approximately west of Prostějov, south-west of Olomouc, and east of Prague.
Notable people
*Wilhelm Kosch ...
. The Boskovice Reservoir is largely located in the municipal territory. The reservoir lies on the river Bělá which flows through the eastern part of the town and the southern part of the territory.
History
Boskovice was probably founded in the 13th century as a market village. The first written mention of Boskovice is from 1222, when the lord Jimram of Boskovice was listed as a witness in a deed of the King
Ottokar I of Bohemia
Ottokar I ( cs, Přemysl Otakar I.; c. 1155 – 1230) was Duke of Bohemia periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of King of Bohemia, first in 1198 from Philip of Swabia, later in 1203 from Otto IV of Brunswick and in 1212 (a ...
. The Boskovice Castle was first mentioned in 1313.
During the reign of
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
(1740–1780), Boskovice was promoted to a town.
[
Boskovice used to have one of the largest Jewish communities in ]Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
. The first mention of Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
s in Boskovice is from 1343. After 1454, many Jews expelled from Brno came to Boskovice. In the first half of the 16th century, the Jewish community was established. A closed ghetto separated from the town with two gates was established in 1727. After 1848, The Jewish community of Boskovice has become a politically independent town with its own mayor. At its peak in 1857, more than 1,800 Jews lived here.[
Until 1918, ''Boskowitz – Boskovice'' was part of the ]Austrian monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
(Austria side after the compromise of 1867
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...
), head of the district with the same name, one of the 34 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
.
In 1918, Boskovice became part of independent Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. The period of German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
lasted from March 1939 until May 1945. During this time, Boskovice was administered as a part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
.
From 1848 until 1960, Boskovice was a district town. Since 1960, it has been part of the Blansko District.[
]
Demographics
Economy
Boskovice is known for the Minerva Boskovice company, manufacturer of sewing machine
A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...
s. It was founded in 1881. In 1997, the German company Dürkopp Adler
Dürkopp Adler is a German manufacturer of material handling systems and industrial sewing machines that are used in the manufacture of garment and upholstery. It is headquartered in Bielefeld, Germany. The firm is a result of a merger in 1990 bet ...
became the majority shareholder.
Transport
Boskovice is located on the Velké Opatovice
Velké Opatovice (german: Groß Opatowitz) is a town in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,600 inhabitants.
Administrative parts
Villages of Bezďečí, Brťov, Korbelova Lhota, Svárov and Velká ...
– Skalice nad Svitavou
Skalice nad Svitavou is a municipality and village in Blansko District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Skalice nad Svitavou lies approximately north of Blansko, north of Brno, and south-east o ...
railway of local importance.
Culture
Since 1993, the town has hosted the Boskovice Festival, subtitled ''Festival for the Jewish Quarter''. It is a music festival that aims to draw the public's attention to the existence of this monument and to help save it.[
From 2001 to 2010, the town hosted the largest festival of dance music in Moravia, ]Hradhouse Festival
Festival Hradhouse was an annual festival of electronic dance music that took place in Boskovice, near Brno, Czech Republic. The festival was a fixture on the Czech music scene and in the process has grown from a small summer underground party to ...
.
Sights
The Jewish ghetto is located next to the historic centre on an area of around . There is 79 preserved houses of Baroque and Neoclassical origin and one of the original gates. The Baroque synagogue was built in 1639 and later modified in Empire and neo-Gothic styles. It contains an exhibition on the history and monuments of the local Jewish community. The Jewish cemetery was founded not later than in the 16th century. The cemetery has about 2,400 tombs on of area. The oldest preserved readable tomb is from 1670.
The Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
castle in Boskovice was founded in the 13th century. In the mid-16th century, it was reconstructed in the Renaissance style. In the early 18th century, several outbuildings were added, but it was soon abandoned, and in the 1830s the castle was dismantled for the construction of buildings in the town. The torso of the castle palace has been preserved from the large building. A technical monument is a deep well powered by a wooden pedal wheel, the only functional in the country.
The Boskovice Château was originally a Dominican monastery, rebuilt in 1819–1826 into an Empire style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
residence. It is surrounded by an English park. The château complex includes a large Neoclassical greenhouse from 1826–1829, a unique building of its type, and a neo-Gothic riding hall.
The nearby manor residence was built in 1729–1733 as the seat of the Dietrichstein family
The House of Dietrichstein was the name of one of the oldest and most prominent Austrian noble families originating from Carinthia. The family belonged to the High Nobility, the Hochadel. The Nikolsburg (Mikulov) branch was elevated to the rank of ...
. It served its purpose until the family had the château built. After 1826, it served as an administrative building of the manor. Today this simple Baroque building houses the Boskovice Region Museum. Next to the manor residence is the original manor house. It was built in the 17th century as a complex of farm buildings.[
The Church of Saint ]James the Great
James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...
on the town square is from 1346. It was rebuilt in 1493–1527 and repaired many times, however, several parts of the original structure are preserved. The second landmark of the square is the town hall. Its current form is from the late Renaissance reconstruction in 1567. It has a high tower.[
]
Notable people
*Moses Sofer
Moses Schreiber (1762–1839), known to his own community and Jewish posterity in the Hebrew translation as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work ''Chatam Sofer'', ''Chasam Sofer'', or ''Hatam Sofer'' ( trans. ''Seal of the Scribe'', and acron ...
(1762–1839), one of the leading Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
rabbis of European Jewry
*Hirsch Bär Fassel
Hirsch Bär Fassel (21 August 1802 – 27 December 1883; also known as Hirsch Baer Fassel or Hirsch B. Fassel) was an influential rabbi and philosopher.
Biography
He was born in Boskovice. His book ''Mozene Zedek'', a manual for rabbis on Talmud ...
(1802–1883), rabbi and philosopher
* Hermann Wassertrilling (18??–1887), Austrian Hebraist
A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...
*Solomon H. Sonneschein
S. H. Sonneschein, Solomon H. Sonnenschein (June 24, 1839 in Szent Marton, Turocz megye, Hungary – 1908) was a Hungarian-American rabbi.
He received his education at Boskowitz, Moravia, where he obtained his rabbinical diploma in 1863, and l ...
(1839–1908), Hungarian-American rabbi
*Karel Absolon
Karel Absolon (16 June 1877 – 6 October 1960) was a Czech archaeologist, geographer, paleontologist, and speleologist. He was born in Boskovice.
Absolon was the grandchild of paleontologist Jindřich Wankel. During his studies at Charles ...
(1877–1960), archaeologist, paleontologist and speleologist
*Otakar Kubín
Otakar Kubín (french: Othon Coubine; 22 October 1883 – 17 October 1969) was a Czech painter and sculptor.
Biography
Kubín was born in Boskovice, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. His works are mainly associated with Impressionism. He was influenced ...
(1883–1969), painter and sculptor
* Hermann Ungar (1893–1929), writer
* Josef Augusta (1903–1968), paleontologist and geologist
*Tomáš Špidlík
Tomáš Josef Špidlík, S.J. (17 December 1919 – 16 April 2010) was a Czech prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a Jesuit priest and theologian. Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal in 2003.
Biography
Špidlík was born in 1919 ...
(1919–2010), prelate of the Catholic Church
*Josef Koudelka
Josef Koudelka (born 10 January 1938) is a Czech-French photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos and has won awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), a Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), a Grand Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson (1991), ...
(born 1938), photographer
* Pavel Kysilka (born 1958), economist
*Ladislav Maier
Ladislav Maier (born 4 January 1966 in Boskovice) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played seven matches for the Czech Republic and participated at Euro 1996 and Euro 2000. At club level he took part in five ...
(born 1966), footballer
* Yvetta Hlaváčová (born 1975), long-distance swimmer
Twin towns – sister cities
Boskovice is twinned with:
* Frasnes-lez-Anvaing
Frasnes-lez-Anvaing (; pcd, Fraine-lez-Anvégne; wa, Fraine-dilé-Anvegn) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
On 1 January 2018 the municipality had 11,740 inhabitants. The total area is 112.44 km², ...
, Belgium
* Levice
Levice (; hu, Léva, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Lewenz, literally lionesses) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left On ...
, Slovakia
* Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Rawa Mazowiecka
Rawa Mazowiecka is a town in central Poland, with 17,193 inhabitants (2020). It lies in the Łódź Voivodeship and is the capital of the Rawa County.
From 1562 the city hosted the ''Rawa Treasury'' for the Polish army. During an excavation in 1 ...
, Poland
Gallery
Hrad Boskovice - opevnění, okres Blansko (06).jpg, Entry gate to Boskovice Castle
Boskovice, stará radnice.jpg, Town hall on the Masarykovo Square
Boskovice (Boskowitz) - Residenz.jpg, Boskovice Region Museum
Zámecký skleník, Boskovice, okres Blansko (02).jpg, The greenhouse in the château complex
Jízdárna, Boskovice, okres Blansko.jpg, Riding hall
Židovský hřbitov, Boskovice, okres Blansko (02).jpg, Jewish cemetery
Židovský dům, čp. 349, U Koupadel, Boskovice, okres Blansko.jpg, Jewish house
Boskovice - Židovská brána.jpg, Gate to the Jewish ghetto
Pohled na východní část města z Vyhlídky pod hradem, Boskovice, okres Blansko.jpg, View of the eastern part of the town
Bělá v Pilském údolí, Boskovice, okres Blansko.jpg, Bělá River in the Pilské Valley
References
External links
*
Boskovice Castle
Boskovice Château
{{authority control
Populated places in Blansko District
Cities and towns in the Czech Republic
Shtetls
Castles in the South Moravian Region
Margraviate of Moravia