Benátky is a municipality and village in

Hradec Králové District Hradec Králové District () is a district in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Hradec Králové. Administrative division Hradec Králové District is divided into two administrative districts of munici ...

in the

Hradec Králové Region Hradec Králové Region (, ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic located in the north-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Hradec Králové. The region neighbours the Pardubice Region in t ...

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 100 inhabitants.

Etymology

Benátky is the Czech exonym for

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Several settlements in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

founded near rivers and on wet marshy places were named this way, which is also the case of this settlement.

Geography

Benátky is located about northwest of

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

. It lies in a flat agricultural landscape in the

East Elbe Table The East Elbe Table () is a plateau and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the Hradec Králové, Pardubice and Central Bohemian region. The Elbe River flows through the territory, after which the plateau is nam ...

. The Bystřice River flows along the western municipal border.

History

The first written mention of Benátky is from 1241, when it became property of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

. Then the village was owned by the Opatovice Monastery. After the monastery was burned down in 1421 by the

Hussites upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...

, Benátky was held by various noble families and often changed owners. In 1493–1547, Benátky was owned by the

Pernštejn family The House of Pernštejn () was one of the oldest and most important (uradel) families originating from Moravian nobility, along with the House of Rosenberg, that played an important role in the medieval history of Bohemian nobility from the 13th ...

. In 1547, the village was bought by the Trčka of Lípa family, who annexed it to the

Smiřice Smiřice (; ) is a town in Hradec Králové District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,100 inhabitants. Administrative division Smiřice consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the ...

estate.

Demographics

Transport

There are no major roads passing through the municipality. The railway that runs through Benátky is unused.

Sights

The only protected cultural monument in the municipality is a stone column shrine, which dates from the second half of the 16th century. It is a unique example of a column shrine from the Renaissance period. The municipality is partly located in the area of the battlefield of the

Battle of Königgrätz The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königgrä ...

, which is protected as a landscape monument zone.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benatky (okres Hradec Kralove) Villages in Hradec Králové District