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Vidnava (, pl, Widnawa) is a town in
Jeseník District Jeseník District ( cs, okres Jeseník) is a district (''okres'') in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Its seat is the town of Jeseník. With approximately 38,000 inhabitants it is the least populated district of the Czech Republic. The ar ...
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 Cz ...
. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.


Etymology

The town's name is derived from the name of the Vidnavka River. The name of the river has its origin in ''vidět'' (i.e. "to see"), which was derived from the clear water through which it could be seen.


Geography

Vidnava lies approximately north of
Jeseník Jeseník (; until 1947 Frývaldov (); german: Freiwaldau, pl, Frywałdów) is a spa town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Bukovice and Dětřichov are administrative ...
, north of
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 ...
, and east 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 tempera ...
. Vidnava is located on the border with
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
. It lies in the Silesian Lowlands, on the right bank of the river Vidnavka.


History

The first written mention of Vidnava is from 1291. The town prospered until the
Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Ca ...
, during which it was conquered and burned. Vidnava did not recover until the early 16th century, when there was a boom in crafts. The town was again destroyed by a large fire in 1574, and then during the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
. The history of the town was influenced by the
War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's W ...
in 1741–1745. The newly established borders of Silesia made Vidnava a border town, cut off from the rich villages to the east of it. During the World War II, the German occupiers operated the E780
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of e ...
subcamp and the E214 subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344
prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
in Vidnava. Four PoWs who were killed by the Germans during escape attempts were buried at the Catholic cemetery in Vidnava. For many prisoners of war, Vidnava was a stopping place on
The March The March can refer to: * March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a 1963 civil rights event * Salt March, when Gandhi in 1930 walked to protest the British salt tax in India * Sherman's March to the Sea during the American Civil War * Long March i ...
during the final months of the World War II in Europe. A memorial dedicated to 19 victims of The March is on local cemetery.


Sights

The historic town centre is delimited by the preserved remains of the late medieval town fortifications from the 15th and the 16th centuries. The town square is lined by medieval houses with late Baroque and
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
gables. The landmark is the Church of Saint
Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, w ...
. It was originally a Gothic church, founded together with the town in the 13th century. Today's appearance is the result of Baroque and Neoclassical reconstructions. The last major reconstruction took place in 1883, when a neo-Gothic tower was added. The Renaissance one-storey Vidnava Castle comes from the second half of the 16th century. It has two towers decorated with
sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...
. Today it houses an elementary art school.


Notable people

* Adolf Lorenz (1854–1946), Austrian orthopedic surgeon * Friedrich Karl Max Vierhapper (1876–1932), Austrian botanist


Twin towns – sister cities

Vidnava is twinned with: *
Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, ...
, Germany


References


External links

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