Kralupy nad Vltavou CZ twin towns 086.jpg
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Kralupy nad Vltavou (; german: Kralup an der Moldau) is a town in
Mělník District Mělník District ( cs, okres Mělník) is a district ('' okres'') within Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Mělník. Complete list of municipalities Býkev - Byšice - Chlumín - Chorušice - Chvatěrub ...
in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 18,000 inhabitants. It is known as a traffic hub and industrial agglomeration. The town is a part of the Prague metropolitan area.


Administrative parts

Town parts and villages of Lobeček, Mikovice, Minice and Zeměchy are administrative parts of Kralupy nad Vltavou.


Geography

Kralupy nad Vltavou lies on the Vltava River, about north of Prague.


History

The first written reliable mention of Kralupy is from 1253. It was originally a village by the local ford. From its establishment to 1848, it was owned mostly by
Knights of the Cross with the Red Star The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star or Military Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star ( cs, Křižovnický řád rytířů s červenou hvězdou; german: Kreuzherren mit dem Roten Stern; la, Ordo Militaris Crucigerorum cum Rubea Stella ...
, except for four enforced short breaks. It had belonged to the same authority for six hundred years, which is a rare case. When the importance of the Kralupy river ford ceased, the inhabitants mostly occupied themselves with farming. Growing and drying fruits had a tradition here. In 1851 the state railway line from Prague to Dresden was put into operation and in 1856 the Buštěhrad line with the reloading dock on the river Vltava opened. This laid the foundations of the Kralupy railway junction, which was extended in 1865 by the construction of the Kralupy– Turnov line. The development of the river shipping had led to the regulation of the Vltava in 1894. The railway and river transportation stimulated a rapid population growth and overall economic development Many enterprises were established and the price of land rose. In 1854 the shipyard producing both wooden and metal vessels was founded and in 1857 the first real factory opened – a chemical factory called Jordánka, which employed 600 people in its heyday. In 1867 the steam-mill was put into operation and in 1868–1869 two sugar factories and in 1872 a brewery opened. At the same time the first sand quarries and brickworks were opened. The general growt, the mineral oil refinery was put into operation. This stage of the transformation of the village into a town culminated in 1881, when Kralupy was promoted to a market town, and in 1902, when it became a town. In 1902, the neighbouring settlement of Lobeč was joined to Kralupy and it changed its name to Kralupy nad Vltavou. The World War I affected the town only indirectly. After the war, several new enterprises were established. The town suffered in the World War, when the oil campaign targeted the oil refinery in 1945. During the totalitarian communist rule (1948–89) the town lacked democratic municipal government. The town's location is the cause of frequent devastating floods, which came in 1784, 1845 and 1890. The town centre was also damaged by the
2002 European floods In August 2002, a week of intense rainfall produced flooding across a large portion of Europe. It reached the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. The event killed 232 ...
. Lobeček, Mikovice and Minice were separate municipalities until 1980, when they were incorporated into the town. Zeměchy was incorporated in 1986.


Demographics


Economy

Industry is the basis of the economy of Kralupy nad Vltavou, the chemical industry still has the tradition here. The oil refinery is owned by
Orlen Unipetrol Orlen Unipetrol is a Czech joint stock company owned by a Polish oil company PKN Orlen. The company is engaged in crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sales of fuels and petrochemical products – mainly plastics and fertilis ...
. It was destroyed in 1945 and put back into service only in 1975. SYNTHOS Kralupy a.s. is the biggest company with its headquarters in Kralupy nad Vltavou. Until 1996, it was a part of the oil refinery company, and it is also owned by Unipetrol. Formerly known as KAUČUK, a.s., it is a chemical company founded 1954, focused on
synthetic rubber A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubbe ...
and
polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...
s production. The main representative of the food industry is Bidfood company. It is the largest food distributor in the Czech Republic and a producer of frozen food products.


Transport

The town is an important railway hub. The main line from Prague to Dresden runs through it as well as two other lines of lesser importance. The Vltava River is still used for transport. Three bridges across the Vltava River are in the town –
T. G. Masaryk T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively). T may also refer to: Codes and units * T, Tera- as in one trillion * T, the symbol for "True" in lo ...
Bridge (a highway bridge built in 1920s), a footbridge with bicycle lane (built in 1990s) and a railway bridge.


Notable people

*
Antonín Heveroch Antonín Heveroch (19 January 1869 – 2 March 1927) was a Czech psychiatrist and neurologist. After working at the Psychiatric Clinic in Prague, he left it and established a second psychiatric hospital. Early years Heveroch was born in 1869 in ...
(1869–1927), psychiatrist and neurologist *
Georges Kars Georges Kars (Georges Karpeles or Georg Karpeles - Jiří Karpeles) (2 May 1880, other sources 1882 – 5 February 1945) was a Czech painter known for his landscapes and nude paintings. Life Georges Kars was born to a German Jewish family ...
(1880–1945), painter *
Jindřich Bišický Jindřich Bišický (11 February 1889 iZeměchy now part of Kralupy nad Vltavou – 31 October 1949 in Velvary) is known as the author of unique photographs from World War I. He was not properly identified until 2009. Early life Jindřich B ...
(1889–1949), war photographer * Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986), poet, Nobel Prize winner; buried here *
Alexander Kerst Alexander Kerst (23 February 1924 – 9 December 2010) was an Austrian television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, o ...
(1924–2010), actor *
Lubomír Nácovský Lubomír Nácovský (26 May 1935 – 10 March 1982 in Kralupy nad Vltavou) was a Czech sport shooter who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics and in the 1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de ...
(1935–1982), sport shooter, Olympic medalist


Twin towns – sister cities

Kralupy nad Vltavou is twinned with: * Banyuls-sur-Mer, France * Hennigsdorf, Germany *
Hrádek nad Nisou Hrádek nad Nisou (; german: Grottau, pl, Gródek nad Nysą) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,700 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument ...
, Czech Republic * Komárno, Slovakia *
Miren-Kostanjevica The Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica (; sl, Občina Miren - Kostanjevica, it, Comune di Merna Castagnevizza) is a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy. Miren-Kostanjevica is part of the Goriška region of the Slovene Li ...
, Slovenia * Šabac, Serbia * Środa Wielkopolska, Poland


Gallery

Městský úřad Kralupy.jpg, Town hall Kralupy nad Vltavou, Veltruská, MERO crop.jpg, MERO headquarters Kralupy nad Vltavou, panorama sídliště.jpg, Town panorama Kralupy nad Vltavou, Most T. G. Masaryka.jpg, T. G. Masaryk Bridge Kars kpy.jpg, Statue of
Georges Kars Georges Kars (Georges Karpeles or Georg Karpeles - Jiří Karpeles) (2 May 1880, other sources 1882 – 5 February 1945) was a Czech painter known for his landscapes and nude paintings. Life Georges Kars was born to a German Jewish family ...
Kralupy kostel Nanebevzetí P. Marie a sv. Václava 02.jpg, Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint Wenceslaus


References


External links

*
Tourist portal
(in English and Czech) {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic