Štěchovice is a market town in
Prague-West District in the
Central Bohemian Region
The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...
of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. It has about 2,200 inhabitants.
Administrative division
Štěchovice consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):
*Štěchovice (1,221)
*Masečín (733)
*Třebenice (221)
Etymology
The name was derived from the personal name Štěch, meaning "the village of Štěch's people". Štěch used to be a shortened form of the name
Štěpán.
Geography
Štěchovice is located about south of
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. It lies in the
Benešov Uplands. The highest point is at above sea level. The market town is situated on the left bank of the
Vltava River, at its confluence with the
Kocába River. The Vltava and the
Štěchovice Reservoir, built on the river in 1937–1945, form the eastern municipal border.
History
The first written mention of Štěchovice is in a deed of King
Ottokar I of Bohemia from 1205. Třebenice was first mentioned in 1055 and Masečín in 1310. For centuries, Štěchovice was divided into several parts, which belonged to different estates with different owners. In the 14th century, there were gold mines in the area, thanks to which the growth of the village accelerated. In 1437, Štěchovice was first referred to as a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
. Gold mining ended during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, and the livelihood of the inhabitants shifted to the use of the Vltava River for transport.
Demographics
Transport
There are no railways or major roads passing through the municipality.
Sights
The main landmark of Štěchovice is the Church of Saint John the Baptist. It was built mainly in the
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
style in 1911–1913 and belongs to the most important Czech sacral buildings of the 20th century. Prominent artists, such as
Vojtěch Sucharda or Čeněk Vosmík, participated in the sculptural decoration of the church.
Notable people
*
Zorka Janů (1921–1946), actress
Twin towns – sister cities
Štěchovice is
twinned with:
*
Kalmthout, Belgium
*
San Juan Nepomuceno, Paraguay
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stechovice
Market towns in the Czech Republic