Doubrava (, ) is a municipality and village in

Karviná District Karviná District () is a Okres, district in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Karviná, but the most populated city is Havířov. Administrative division Karviná District is divided into five Distric ...

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 1,100 inhabitants.

Etymology

The name comes from the Slavic word ''dúbrava'', which means "

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forest". Between 1920 and 1924, the municipality was named ''Dombrová''.

Geography

Doubrava is located about west of

Karviná Karviná (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Olza (river), Olza River in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. Karviná is known as an industrial city with t ...

and east 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 the

Ostrava Basin The Ostrava Basin (, , ) is a lowland and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic and Poland. It is located in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic and in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland. Geomorphology The Ostrava Ba ...

lowland in the historical region of

Cieszyn Silesia Cieszyn Silesia, Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia ( ; or ; or ) is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered on the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided betwe ...

. There are several fishponds in the municipality.

History

It is not clear when the village was founded, according to historians, it could have been around 1150. The first written mention of Doubrava is in a document of

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX (; born Ugolino di Conti; 1145 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and the ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decretales'' and instituting the Pa ...

issued in 1229 among villages belonging to Benedictine abbey in Tyniec, as ''Dubrowa''. In 1268 it was bestowed by

Władysław Opolski Vladislaus I of Opole () ( – 27 August/13 September 1281/2) was a Duke of Kalisz during 1234–1244, Duke of Wieluń from 1234 to 1249 and Duke of Opole–Racibórz from 1246 until his death. He was the second son of Casimir I of Opole b ...

to the newly established

Orlová monastery The Orlová monastery (, ) was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine abbey established around 1268 in what is now a town of Orlová in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic. History Orlová was first mentioned in a writ ...

. Politically it belonged then to the

Duchy of Opole and Racibórz The Duchy of Opole and Racibórz (, ) was one of the numerous Duchies of Silesia ruled by the Silesian branch of the royal Polish Piast dynasty. It was formed in 1202 from the union of the Upper Silesian duchies of Opole and the Racibórz, in a ra ...

and

Castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

y of

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; ; ) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ( and lies opposite Český Těšín in the Czech Repu ...

, which was ruled by a local branch of

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

. In 1327 the duchy became a

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

of the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

, which after 1526 became part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. In 1573 it was sold as one of a dozen villages and the town of

Freistadt Freistadt (, ) is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of a district of the sa ...

and formed a

state country State country (; ; ) was a unit of administrative and territorial division in the Bohemian crown lands of Silesia and Upper Lusatia, existing from 15th to 18th centuries. These estates were exempt from feudal tenure by privilege of the Bohemian ...

split from the Duchy of Teschen. An important milestone in the history of the village was the discovery of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. Mining was started in 1822 by Baron Anton Mattencloit, the then owner of Doubrava. He sold the shaft to

Salomon Mayer von Rothschild Salomon Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild (9 September 1774 – 28 July 1855) was a Frankfurt-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Rothschild family. Family Born as Salomon Mayer Rothschild in ...

in 1845, who had second mining pit dug in 1854 and christened the pits ''Eleonora'' and ''Bettina''. After World War II, they were merged under one mine called Doubrava Mine and became part of the

OKD OKD (; Ostrava-Karviná Mines) is a major mining, mining company in the Czech Republic, the only producer of hard coal in the country with an annual production of around 8-9 million tonnes from 4 mines with 23 shafts extracting coal from depth ...

company. After

Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire The revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire took place from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalism, nationalist character: the Austrian Empire, ruled from Vienna, included ethnic Germans, Hungarians, ...

a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Habsburg monarchy (from 1804 the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 the Cisleithanian portion of Austria-Hungary). It is la ...

. The village as a municipality was subscribed at first to the

political district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Teschen and the

legal district A judicial district or legal district denotes the territorial area for which a legal court (usually a district court) has jurisdiction. By continent Europe Austria In texts concerning Austria, "judicial district" () refers to the geographi ...

, which in 1868 became an independent

. According to the censuses conducted in 1880–1910, the population of the municipality grew from 2,382 in 1880 to 5,660 in 1910. According to the native language, at first majority were Czech-speaking (85.6% in 1880 and 66.2% in 1890, then dropping to 19.6% in 1900 and again growing to 34.7% in 1910), later Polish-speaking (at first 12.2% in 1880, then increased to 62.8% in 1910). They were accompanied by a German-speaking minority (4% in 1890, 2.5% in 1910). In terms of religion in 1910, the majority were

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

(5,159 or 91.1%), followed by

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(354 or 6.3%) and Jews (134 or 2.4%). After World War I, Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of

in 1920, the village became a part of First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 together with the Trans-Olza region it was annexed by Second Polish Republic, Poland, administratively organised in Frysztat County of Silesian Voivodeship (1920–39), Silesian Voivodeship. The village was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia. In 1974 Doubrava was administratively joined to the town of Orlová. Living conditions in Doubrava deteriorated during the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Communist era as a result of extensive coal mining. In 1990 it once again became an independent municipality. The coal mining ended here in 2007. The tower of the Bettina coal mine was detonated in 2006, the tower of Eleonora coal mine was detonated in 2007.

Demographics

Transport

There are no railways or major roads passing through the municipality.

Sights

The most important landmark is the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Hedwig of Silesia, Hedwig. It was built in the Neoromanesque style in 1894–1898. The neighbouring rectory building also comes from 1898. The Czechoslovak Hussite Church, Czechoslovak Hussite church was built in 1928. It represents interwar architecture influenced by purism and constructivism. The National House is an architecturally valuable building. It was built in 1903 to serve cultural and sporting purposes.

Notable people

*Jan Buzek (1874–1940), Polish physician and politician; worked here *Józef Kiedroń (1879–1932), Polish engineer and politician; worked here *Waldemar Semelka (1920–1941), flying ace

Gallery

Dabrowa 4808.jpg, Memorial to local World War I victims Eleonora 9267.jpg, Detonation of the tower of Eleonora coal mine Kostel Husova sboru Církve československé husitské (Doubrava).jpg, Czechoslovak Hussite church

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doubrava Villages in Karviná District Cieszyn Silesia