Plaňany () is a market town in

Kolín District Kolín District () is a Okres, district in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Kolín. Administrative division Kolín District is divided into two Districts of the Czech Republic#Municipalities with extend ...

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 1,900 inhabitants.

Administrative division

Plaňany consists of four municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Plaňany (1,613) *Blinka (60) *Hradenín (90) *Poboří (142)

Etymology

The name is derived either from the word (meaning "people living on a plain") or from ("people who came from Planá").

Geography

Plaňany is located about west of

Kolín Kolín (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monume ...

and east 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 a flat agricultural landscape of the

Central Elbe Table The Central Elbe Table () is a plateau and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located mostly in the Central Bohemian Region, but due to its size, it also extends to other regions. The axis of the plateau is the Elbe River, ...

. The highest point is the hill Mukařov at above sea level. The market town is situated on the right bank of the

Výrovka The Výrovka (also called Vavřinecký potok upstream) is a river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Elbe River. It flows through the Central Bohemian Region. It is long. Characteristic The Výrovka originates in the territory of Uhl ...

River.

History

The first written mention of Plaňany is from 1222, under its old name Plaňasy. In 1421 and 1424, the village was burned down 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 ...

, then it was looted by the army of King

George of Poděbrady George of Kunštát and Poděbrady (23 April 1420 – 22 March 1471), also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad (; ), was the sixteenth King of Bohemia, who ruled in 1458–1471. He was a leader of the Hussites, but moderate and tolerant toward the ...

in 1448. Probably in 1572, during the rule of the Mírek of Solopysky family, the village 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 ...

Demographics

Transport

The I/12 road from Prague to Kolín passes through the municipal territory. Plaňany is located on the railway line of local importance from

Kouřim Kouřim (; ) is a town in Kolín District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. Administrative division Kouřim ...

Pečky Pečky is a town in Kolín District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,900 inhabitants. Administrative division Pečky consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Pečky ...

. The market town is served by two train stops.

Sights

The main landmark of Plaňany is the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It is a Romanesque cemetery church from the mid-12th century with a Gothic extension from the 14th century. Next to the church is a free-standing half-timbered belfry. Near this church are also the neo-Gothic Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist from 1901 and a Baroque rectory, which are not cultural monuments. A notable building is the Baroque granary. It was originally a Renaissance fortress built in 1530–1539, but it was rebuilt into a granary in the 1740s. It served as a granary until the mid-20th century.

Notable people

* Wilhelm Würfel (1790–1832), composer *

Bedřich Bernau Bedřich (Friedrich) Bernau, born Přemysl Bačkora (22 August 1849, in Prague – 2 January 1904, in Plaňany) was a Czech amateur archaeologist, who wrote popular works on that subject and ethnography. He changed his name out of concern that pub ...

(1849–1904), archaeologist and ethnographer; lived and died here * Josef Nádvorník (1906–1977), lichenologist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Planany Market towns in the Czech Republic