Horní Planá (; ) is a town in

Český Krumlov District Český Krumlov District () is a Okres, district in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Český Krumlov. Administrative division Český Krumlov District is divided into two Districts of the Czech Republic#M ...

in the

South Bohemian Region The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''Regions of the Czech Republic, kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western ...

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 1,900 inhabitants.

Administrative division

Horní Planá consists of eight municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Horní Planá (1,652) *Bližší Lhota (35) *Hodňov (62) *Hory (4) *Hůrka (143) *Olšina (18) *Pernek (81) *Žlábek (14)

Geography

Horní Planá lies about southwest of

Český Krumlov Český Krumlov (; , ''Böhmisch Krumau'') is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. It is known as a tourist centre, which is among the most visited places in the country. The historic centre ...

and southwest of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

. It lies on the border with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Horní Planá is situated in the

Bohemian Forest The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as () and in German as , is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and the South Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in Germ ...

on the southeastern rim of the

Šumava National Park The Šumava National Park (, usually shortened as NP Šumava), or Bohemian Forest National Park, is a national park in the South Bohemian regions of the Czech Republic along the border with Germany (where the smaller adjacent Bavarian Forest Na ...

, in the Šumava Protected Landscape Area. The highest point of Horní Planá and of the entire Český Krumlov District is a point on the top of the mountain Smrčina with an altitude of . Horní Planá is located on the northern shore of the

Lipno Reservoir The Lipno Reservoir () is a dam and hydroelectric plant constructed along the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. It is the largest water area in the Czech Republic. History Due to frequent flooding and subsequent damage, the Vltava River in Sou ...

, south of the Boletice Military Training Area. Tajvan, the largest island of the reservoir, is located in the territory of Horní Planá. Beyond the Lipno Reservoir, a densely forested area with several abandoned villages stretches up to the

Vltava The Vltava ( , ; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It runs southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague. It is com ...

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

drainage divide (part of the main European Watershed).

History

Horní Planá was founded by monks from the Zlatá Koruna Monastery in the first half of the 14th century. In 1349, it was promoted to 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 ...

by King Charles IV. During the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

in 1420, it was incorporated into the

estate, then held by the

Rosenberg family The House of Rosenberg ( or ''Páni z Rožmberka'') was a prominent Bohemian noble family that played an important role in Czech medieval history from the 13th century until 1611. Members of this family held posts at the Prague royal (and ...

. The Rosenbergs insignia were adopted in the town's coat of arms. The good location on the trade route from

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 ...

and later the construction of the Schwarzenberg Canal and the railway had a significant influence on the town's development. Horní Planá was originally known under its German names ''Plan'' and ''Plana'', and from 1653 ''Oberplan'' and ''Ober Plan''. Since 1921, the town has its Czech name Horní Planá. Until 1945, the local population predominantly consisted of ethnic

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

. In 1930, they made 98% of the population. In 1938, the town was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

upon the 1938

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

and incorporated into the

Reichsgau Oberdonau The Reichsgau Upper Danube (German: '' Reichsgau Oberdonau'') was an administrative division of Nazi Germany, created after the Anschluss (annexation of Austria) in 1938 and dissolved in 1945. It consisted of what is today Upper Austria, parts of ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was restored to

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 ...

, while the remaining German population was expelled.

Demographics

Transport

The I/39 road (the section from

Volary Volary (; ) is a town in Prachatice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,700 inhabitants. It is located in the Bohemian Forest, close to the border with Germany. An area in the northern part of the town with t ...

) passes through the town. The ''Zadní Zvonková / Schöneben'' road border crossing is located in the territory of Horní Planá. Horní Planá is located on the railway line

– Nové Údolí. There are four train stations and stops in the municipal territory.

Sights

The main landmark is the Church of Saint Margaret the Virgin. Its existence is first documented in 1374. It was later rebuilt in Neo-Gothic style and has preserved Renaissance murals, made between 1530 and 1580. The birth house of

Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a Bohemian- Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking wo ...

houses today a museum dedicated to his life and work. There is also a park named after Stifter with his monument. A landmark of the town square is the Neo-Baroque town hall from 1896.

Notable people

* Adolf Martin Pleischl (1787–1867), chemist and medical doctor *

(1805–1868), writer, poet and painter *

Leopold Wackarž Leopold Anton Wackarž, O.Cist (1810–1901) was an Austrian Catholic prelate who served as the 40th abbot of Vyšší Brod Monastery (1857–1901) and the 37th abbot general of the Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Orde ...

(1810–1901), Cistercian abbot general * Matěj Ryneš (born 2001), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Horní Planá is twinned with: * Ulrichsberg, Austria

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horni Plana Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Český Krumlov District Bohemian Forest