Vrahovice is a village and administrative part of

Prostějov Prostějov (; german: Proßnitz) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 43,000 inhabitants. The city is known for its fashion industry. The historical city centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural ...

in the

Olomouc Region Olomouc Region ( cs, Olomoucký kraj; , ; pl, Kraj ołomuniecki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western and central part of its historical region of Moravia (''Morava'') and in a small part of t ...

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 3,300 inhabitants.

Geography

Vrahovice lies in the

Upper Morava Valley Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

. The watercourses Romže, Hloučela and Valová flow through Vrahovice. The highest point in Vrahovice is Vrbatecký kopec.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1337. The first mention of a church in Vrahovice was in 1370. The church was destroyed in a large fire in 1587. A church constructed shortly after the fire was used until it was destroyed in 1831. A replacement church was built between 1831 and 1836 and financed by Jan Josef Count Seilern, the owner of the

Kralice Kralice may refer to: Music * Kraliçe, an album of Turkish singer Hande Yener Places in the Czech Republic *Kralice, a village and part of Chlístovice in the Central Bohemian Region * Kralice na Hané, a market town in the Olomouc Region * Kral ...

domain. A village by the name of Trpenovice (now known as Trpinky), with a written history dating back to 1349, was combined with Vrahovice in 1466. From 1960–1973, Vrahovice also included the village of Čechůvky. Through its history, Vrahovice has passed through the hands of several owners. In 1725, Jan Bedrich Seilern bought Vrahovice, and the Seilern family became the last to possess the village. The first mayor of Vrahovice was Jan Frébort, who took office in 1848. The village experienced significant development during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, during the tenure of mayor Josef Stříž, when roads to

and Vrbátky and a new city hall were built. During World War II, occupying Nazi forces built an observation point on the hill above Vrahovice to monitor the railway. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, there was an internment camp in the village for Germans from the Prostějov region awaiting transfer to Germany. Between 1950 and 1954, and from 1973 until the present day, Vrahovice has been a part of Prostějov. Since the 1990s there have been advocates for its separation. On 9 December 2004, five people were killed in the village when a truck carrying soldiers crashed into a train.

Vrahovice today

Notable buildings

The village has a church, Saint Bartholomew's, dating from the 19th century. Other important local buildings include a monument to the

Czechoslovak Legions , image = Coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Legion.svg , image_size = 200px , alt = , caption = Czechoslovak Legion coat of arms , start_date ...

, an 18th-century

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

vicarage, an 18th-century statue of

Saint Florian Florian ( la, Florianus; 250 – 304 AD) was a Christians, Christian holy man, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighting, firefighters. His feast day is 4 May. Florian is also the patron saint of Upper ...

, and a brick factory built at the beginning of the 20th century.

Infrastructure

Vrahovice has a common integrated transport system with Prostějov. Bus routes from Prostějov to

Přerov Přerov (; german: Prerau) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 41,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Bečva River. In the past it was a major crossroad in the heart of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The historic centre ...

and

Tovačov Tovačov (german: Tobitschau) is a town in the Přerov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrat ...

run through the village. Vrahovice is located on the train route from Nezamyslice to Olomouc. The village train station was built in 1946. The village has a primary school dating back to the 19th century.

Community life

Vrahovice is home to a

Sokol The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a so ...

branch, a

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond t ...

, and Spolek za staré Vrahovice, an association dedicated to local history research, environmental protection, and the promotion of the village. The association has renamed several streets in the village after important Vrahovice inhabitants, including Josef Stříž,

František Kopečný František Kopečný (4 October 1909 in Určice – 27 March 1990 in Vrahovice) was Czechoslovak bohemist and slavist. He was interested in etymology and dialectology. He studied Czech and German languages at the Masaryk University. He then ...

and

Zdeněk Tylšar Zdeněk Tylšar (29 April 1945 – 18 August 2006) was a Czech horn player and music pedagogue, brother of hornist Bedřich Tylšar. He was the principal hornist and leader of the horn section with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for almost 40 yea ...

, and has created a new park, the Arboretum Vrahovice. There are no professional sports teams in Vrahovice. In 1930, a football team, SK Vrahovice, was established, but after the 1948 communist coup d'état, the team was banned. Its players became members of another voluntary football association, Sokol Vrahovice, which is still in existence.

Notable people

(1909–1990), linguist; lived and died here * Bedřich Tylšar (born 1939), horn player and music pedagogue * Josef Šimoník (1941–2006), chemist *

(1945–2006), horn player and music pedagogue * Rostislav Václavíček (1946–2022), footballer

In popular culture

Jiří Bigas wrote a book, ''Vrahovice 119'', about a village in the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

after the World War II. He said he named the book ''Vrahovice'' because he knew the village from his childhood.

References

Bibliography

* ''Československý sborník a almanach. Politický okres Prostějov.'' Olomouc 1932, pg. 79–82. * FAKTOR, František: ''Popis okresního hejtmanství prostějovského.'' Praha 1898, pg. 109–112. * HÁJEK, Martin: ''Vrahovice v moderní době. Dějiny obce v letech 1885–1973.'' Vrahovice 2019. * ''Historický místopis Moravy a Slezska 1848–1960''. Svazek 5. Ostrava 1976, pg. 71–72. * HOSÁK, Ladislav, ŠRÁMEK, Rudolf: ''Místní jména na Moravě a ve Slezsku II. M–Ž.'' Praha 1980, pg. 740–741. * JANOUŠEK, Vojtěch: ''Vlastivěda moravská. Dějiny Prostějova. Prostějovský okres.'' Brno 1938, pg. 251–260. * ODLOŽIL, Pavel, ODLOŽILOVÁ, Milena: ''Vrahovice. Přírodní poměry, historie a současnost.'' Vrahovice 1993. * ''Prostějov. Dějiny města I.'' Prostějov 2000, pg. 259–266. * PŘÍVAL, Vojtěch a red.: ''Prostějovsko za války. Vzpomínky a dokumenty z let 1939–1945.'' Prostějov 1948, pg. 164–167. * SCHWOY, Franz Josef: ''Topographie vom Markgrafthum Mähren.'' Band 1: Olmützer Kreis. Wien 1793, pg. 503–504. * WOLNY, Gregor: ''Kirchliche Topographie von Mähren meist nach Urkunden und Handschriften.'' Abtheilung 1: Olmüzer Erzdiöcese: Band 1. Brünn 1855, pg. 405–408. * WOLNY, Gregor: ''Die Markgraftschaft Mähren, topographisch, statistisch und historisch geschildert.'' V. Band. Olmützer Kreis. Brünn 1839, pg. 536–537.

External links

Vrahovice webpage in Czech

Map of Vrahovice

Interactive map of Vrahovice

Photos of Vrahovic on the Vrahovice webpage

Photos of Vrahovice on Flickr.com
{{authority control Neighbourhoods in the Czech Republic Populated places in Prostějov District