Štěpánkovice () is a municipality and village in

Opava District Opava District () is a Districts of the Czech Republic, district in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Opava. Administrative division Opava District is divided into four Districts of the Czech Republic#M ...

in the

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region () is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region (). The region is located in the north-eastern part of its historical region of Moravia and in most ...

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 3,200 inhabitants. It is part of the historic

Hlučín Region Hlučín Region (, , ) is a historically significant part of Czech Silesia, now part of the Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic. It is named after its largest town, Hlučín. Its area is , and in 2021, it had 66,750 inhabitants. Munici ...

Administrative division

Štěpánkovice consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Štěpánkovice (2,773) *Bílá Bříza (65) *Svoboda (227)

Geography

Štěpánkovice is located about east of

Opava Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava (river), Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Sile ...

and northwest of

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

. It lies in an agricultural landscape in the Opava Hilly Land. The highest point is at above sea level.

History

The first written mention of Štěpánkovice is from 1265. In 1712, it was bought by the

Lichnowsky The House of Lichnowsky or House of Lichnovský is the name of an influential Czech aristocratic family of Silesian and Moravian origin, documented since the 14th century. History The noble family first appeared in the Duchy of Pless (Pszczyna) ...

family. Until 1742, the village belonged to

Duchy of Troppau The Principality of Opava (; ) or Duchy of Troppau () was a historic territory split off from the Margraviate of Moravia before 1269 by King Ottokar II of Bohemia to provide for his natural son, Nicholas I. The Opava territory thus had not b ...

. From 1742 to 1918, after Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

had been defeated, the village belonged to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. In 1920, it became part of the newly established

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. During World War II, on 16 April 1945, Štěpánkovice was badly damaged and many buildings burned down.

Demographics

Transport

Štěpánkovice is located on a short railway line of local importance

Kravaře Kravaře (; ) is a town in Opava District the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,700 inhabitants. It is part of the historic Hlučín Region. Administrative division Kravaře consists of three municipal parts (in brack ...

–

Chuchelná Chuchelná () is a municipality and village in Opava District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,300 inhabitants. It is part of the historic Hlučín Region. History The first written mention of Chuchelná is fr ...

Sights

The only protected cultural monument in the municipality is a granary from the first half of the 19th century. It is among the few preserved folk farm buildings of this type in the

. The main landmark of Štěpánkovice is the Church of Saint Catherine. It was built in 1756 and reconstructed after war damage in 1945.

Notable people

* Filip Souček (born 2000), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Štěpánkovice is twinned with: *

Štrba Štrba (, ) is a village in the Poprad District, Prešov Region, northern Slovakia. It is situated in the Sub-Tatra Basin, which separates the High Tatras and Low Tatras at the European continental divide between the Baltic and the Black Sea ...

, Slovakia

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stepankovice Villages in Opava District Hlučín Region