My Town

Our town is called Havlíčkův Brod and it is situated on the both banks of the river Sázava in the centre of Czech-Moravian Highlands which is a potato region. It is said we are in the heart of Europe.
   
    The first settlement was founded on the bank of river Sázava near the Vojtěch’s church. It was on the important merchant route Haberská stezka. The reason for founding town here was that the merchants could cross the river here because there was a ford. This settlement was founded in the twelfth century.
    The original name of our town was Brod. During the centuries the town was several times renamed. In the thirteenth century it carried the name Smilův Brod after Smil z Lichtenburka who founded the first settlement.
In the fourteenth century the name of our town was changed to Německý Brod because many German miners lived here. After the Second World War the town was finally renamed after Karel Havlíček Borovský. He was a famous Czech writer and journalist who lived in our town.
   
    One of the most important events for the town was the right to build the town walls. This right our town got in 1297. The town walls were built from stones so the town became safer and the centre of trade and crafts developed here. The town spread and flourished.
    The biggest development and flourishing of our town was in the fourteenth century.
In the surroundings there were silver mines so our town was quite rich.
It was interrupt in the fifteenth century by Žižka’s army. They destroy completely and burned off the town. The life returned here after a few years and the town was flourished again especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
   
    There are several legends about our town. I know some of them and I would like to tell you one of them which says about one townsman who betried our town. In the past there were troubles between Brod and town Jihlava. One day in the morning women from our town went to the river to wash clothes and they saw many people with weapons in front of the gate of our town. They immediately ran back into the town and say it to all people. The town gate was closed in this moment but one man his name was Hnát opened it to people from Jihlava to could go into our town and obtained it. Hnát was stoned to death for his betrayal. His skeleton was shown above the door of town hall. The skeleton is there till now but the present skeleton is made from wood.
   
    A big influence on local educational and cultural life had founding of grammar school – it was in 1734. After that many famous people came to tour town to study here. There were composers, journalists, painters,
for example Bedřich Smetana, Josef Václav Stamic, Karel Havlíček Borovský, Josef Dobrovský, and Jan Zrzavý.
Karel Havlíček Borovský owned a house in the square where he lived with his family but unfortunately he was arrested and taken to exile in Brixen. Nowadays there is a museum in his house. Karel Havlíček Borovský was very important person for Havlíčkův Brod because he gave the name to our town so there were made a statue of him. It is situated in local park. The author of this statue was Bohumil Kafka.
   
    Nowadays Havlíčkův Brod is quite small town which has about twenty-five thousand inhabitants.
   
    The present life in our town is quite modern and comfortable.
There are several schools here (nursery, basic and secondary), new shops and supermarkets are built here, for example Hypernova, Plus, Lidl and Kaufland should been built here.
Our town has some new hotels for example The Gold Lion in the square, The Brixen and The Sun.
There were established important firms and factories here like Pleas – it produces underwear and Futaba which is run by Japanise and it produces car parts.
In our town we have quite develop sports. We have a sports area Kotlina which includes a winter stadium where you can find an ice-rink, a swimming pool, a sauna, a court for squash, fitness and a gym for aerobic.
A few years ago our sports hall was rebuilt, here you can do almost all indoor sports. In its surroundings there is a football field with an athletic oval, tennis courts and playgrounds for handball and beach volleyball.
Transport in our town is as well quite good because there are both railway, and bus station here. The bus station is reconstructed in these days.
    Our town offers many sights and places of interest to visitors.
In the middle of town there is a historical Havlíček’s Square which is surrounded by nice houses in Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. These houses have very deep cellars. The Malina’s house is considered to be the finest house of them. The houses were reconstructed, they got a new painting and nowadays there are shops, banks, pharmacies and museums in these houses.
Next to the Havlíček’s house which I mentioned earlier you can visit the town gallery.
In Hanusovský House there is a regional museum.
Our town has two town halls-old and new one. Both of them are situated in the Havlíček’s square. In the old town hall there is a library, concert and exhibition hall and a wine cellar.
In the middle of the square there is Koudela fountain and plaque Marian column.
Near to the Havlíče’s square there is another square which name is Smetana’s square. Originally there were beautiful old house but there were pulled down in 1970s so new blocks of flats were built there.
Visitors can also go to our park Budoucnost which is near the square. This park is more than one hundred years old. It is clam place in the town to relax there are many benches and trees there, but you can also see there remnants of the town walls, Štáfl’s Bastion, statue of historical persons like Karel Havlíček Borovský and Bedřich smetana who was a famous musician.
In the surrounding of the Havlíček’s square there are many churches:
•Vojtěch’s church in Romanesque style with an old Jewish churchyard. In the last years it was rebuilt and nowadays the concerts are held here.
•Our biggest church is the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary. It is a dominant of the town. It has tall tower with a view point to the town. On the top of the tower there are three belles-William, Václav and Barbora. The bell William is the oldest one the central Europe it was made in the thirteen century. This church was originally built in gothic style but in 1422 it was destroyed by fire (by the Hussites). In 1707 a new church building was built in baroque style.
•The church of saint Catherine is situated by the river Sázava. Saint Catherine was a patron of miners. Originally  one part of the church was a hospital for poor miners.
   
    The surroundings of the town is interesting too.
In a small town Lipnice nad Sázavou – maybe it is a village - you can visit a castle and a museum in Jaroslav Hašek’s house.
The other interesting place is Havlíčkova Borová which is a birthplace of Karel Havlíček Borovský.
You can also visit two natural resorts- Doubravka and Stvořidla.
   
    I think Havlíčkův Brod is small but very beautiful town, you can see here both modern supermarkets and old historical houses.