Kamenice nad Lipou () (german: Kamnitz an der Linde) is a town in

Pelhřimov District Pelhřimov District ( cs, okres Pelhřimov) is a district in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Pelhřimov. Administrative division Pelhřimov District is divided into three administrative districts of municipa ...

in the

Vysočina Region The Vysočina Region (; cs, Kraj Vysočina "Highlands Region", , ) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located partly in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia and partly in the south-west of the hist ...

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 3,600 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

Administrative parts

Villages of Antonka, Březí, Gabrielka, Johanka, Nová Ves, Pravíkov and Vodná are administrative parts of Kamenice nad Lipou.

Geography

Kamenice nad Lipou is located about southwest of

Pelhřimov Pelhřimov (german: Pilgrams) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservation ...

. It lies in the

Křemešník Highlands Křemešník is a mountain in the municipality of Nový Rychnov in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. The mountain lies near the town of Pelhřimov and is part of Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. With an elevation of above sea level, it is th ...

, on the Kamenice river. The area is rich on small ponds.

History

The first written mention of Kamenice is from 1267. It was founded as a settlement below a castle in the early 13th century. In honor of a linden tree planted in the castle garden in 1248, the settlement added ''nad Lipou'' (meaning "above a linden tree") into its name. Kamenice nad Lipou regularly changed its owners, who belonged more to the lower nobles. Notable was the rule of Jan of Šelmberk in 1476–1497, during which Kamenice obtained various rights and privileges, and the Malovec family, which had the Gothic castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style in 1580–1583. In 1623, the manor was bought by the family of Paradies of Escheide, which owned it for 70 years and oppressed the inhabitants and deprived the town of its privileges. The town economically prospered in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the first half of the 18th century, silver and iron ores were mined and subsequently

hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...

s were founded. In 1839, a

wool classing Wool classing is the production of uniform, predictable, low-risk lines of wool, carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state and classing (grading) it accordingly. Wool classing is done by a wool classer. Basis for ...

workshop was set up in one of the castle's wings. In 1875, glassworks replaced the hammer mills. In 1906, the narrow-gauge railway was built.

Transport

Kamenice nad Lipou lies on a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

leading from

Jindřichův Hradec Jindřichův Hradec (; german: Neuhaus) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 21,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative par ...

Obrataň Obrataň is a municipality and village in Pelhřimov District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Obrataň lies approximately west of Pelhřimov, west of Jihlava, and south-east of Prague. Administrativ ...

. It is operated by

Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy (''Jindřichův Hradec Local Railways'') is the company which operates the narrow gauge railway lines from Jindřichův Hradec to Nová Bystřice and Obrataň in the Czech Republic. Both lines are gauge. ...

company. It serves mostly as a tourist attraction.

Sights

The most notable sight is the Kamenice nad Lipou Castle. Its current appearance is from 1842, when it was rebuilt in the Neoclassical style. Today it is owned by the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague, which has a depository here, and an exhibition for the public. The southern wing serves as the town museum. The castle includes an

English park The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

. The 700–800 years old linden tree after which the town was named is still in the park.

Notable people

Vítězslav Novák Vítězslav Augustín Rudolf Novák (5 December 1870 – 18 July 1949) was a Czech composer and academic teacher at the Prague Conservatory. Stylistically, he was part of the neo-romantic tradition, and his music is considered an important e ...

(1870–1949), composer *

Ella Tvrdková Ella Tvrdková (19 February 1878 – 8 November 1918), also written as Ella Tordek, was a Czech opera singer. Early life Alžběta Anna Tvrdková was born in Kamenice nad Lipou, the daughter of Václav Tvrdek. She studied voice with Mathilde Ma ...

(1878–1918), opera singer

References

External links

* {{authority control Populated places in Pelhřimov District Cities and towns in the Czech Republic