Žďár nad Sázavou (former names of parts before the merger The
town of Žďár and Žďár Chateau, German Saar and Saar-Vorschloss,
Latin Sar) is a town located in the Vysočina Region, Žďár nad
Sázavou District, the core of Moravia, the border area extends
beyond the historic Czech-Moravian border to Bohemia. Žďár is
located 30 km northeast of Jihlava. Approximately 21,000 inhabitants
live here.
The town is located in the central part of the
Bohemian-Moravian Highlands in Žďárské vrchy, with its center on the
river Sázava. It is the highest district town in the Czech Republic
and is crossed by the main European watershed separating the North
and Black Sea basins. A large part of the city extends into the
Žďárské vrchy Protected Landscape Area.
It is home to the
former important Cistercian monastery of the Well of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. In the Baroque period, his abbot Václav Vejmluva had a
number of buildings in the city and its surroundings built or
restored. Their architect was Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. One of
them, the pilgrimage church of St. John of Nepomuk is listed as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the abolition of the monastery in
1784, the core of the monastery was used as a castle and the whole
area is often called.
Medieval
Around 1100, a market settlement stood
near today's chateau complex on the country's trade route at the
ford across the Sázava River. After the nearby Cistercian monastery
of Studnice Blessed Virgin Mary was founded nearby by Mr. Boček of
Obřany in 1252, the settlement was moved to the area of the
so-called Old Town (Klafar, Žďár nad Sázavou 3) and shortly
afterwards to the places around the church of St. Prokop (today's
historic city center). In its present place, Žďár was built as a
market town, and in 1293 the court (under whose jurisdiction the
monastery estate fell) was first mentioned, sitting in Žďár. During
the Hussite wars, the monastery was burned down and since then,
despite the generous help in the restoration of George of Poděbrady,
its importance has declined.
Early modern age
In 1588,
Duke Charles II exchanged. Minsterberský, the founder of the Žďár
monastery, this estate with the Olomouc archbishopric for small
estates in the vicinity of the Sternberg estate, which belonged to
him. Žďár thus became the manor estate of the bishops of Olomouc,
against which the monastery defended itself with the generous
support of the inhabitants of the town. During the disputes, the
manor first passed into the table estates of the diocese and later
the bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal Francis of Dietrichstein, acquired
it into his personal property. In 1607, Žďár was promoted to a town.
In 1614, Cardinal František Dietrichštejn abolished the Cistercian
monastery due to a dispute over the ownership of the Žďár estate,
and after the monks left, it was transformed into a secular
residence, which he even stopped in 1617.
After the Battle of
White Mountain, the cardinal inhabited part of the now Franciscan
castle grounds. In 1638, the Cistercian order bought the Žďár estate
from Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichštejn (nephew and heir of the
late cardinal in 1636), and a year later the Cistercians returned to
Žďár. In 1642 the monastery was attacked by the Swedes. However, the
monastery was defended by the brothers and burghers. The Swedes
returned in 1647 and plundered the city. The greatest development of
the monastery, the town and its surroundings was achieved in the
18th century by Abbot Václav Vejmluva, who, among other things,
commissioned Jan Blažej Santini Aichl to rebuild the burnt-out
monastery. The monastery also became an important cultural center at
this time. The abbot even tried to establish an academy for the
education of noble youth.
Enlightenment
During the
Josephine reforms, the monastery was abolished in 1784 at the
request of the then abbot and well-known Enlightenment scientist and
plagiarist Otto Steinbach of Kranichštejn and remained only the
administrative center of the estate. Some buildings passed into
private hands, the core of the monastery was later rebuilt into a
castle, which changed several owners. Today it is owned by
Constantin Kinský, a descendant of the aristocratic Kinský family,
the last owners of the chateau before nationalization after the
Second World War.
After 1848, Žďár became the seat of the
district court (it became the center of the judicial district, the
center of the political district was Nové Město na Moravě).
In the years 1898–1905, the town acquired a railway connection with
the local Německý Brod – Brno railway.
In 1928, President
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk visited the city. The film from this visit
was a model for a Czechoslovak stamp with a girl in a Kyjov costume
issued in 1938.
After second World War
In 1949, the town
of Žďár was merged with the village of Žďár Chateau and renamed Žďár
nad Sázavou. In the same year, it became a district town and an
important industrial center after the construction of Žďárské
strojírny a slévárny (ŽĎAS). This was a continuation of the
tradition of the local ironworks, whose origins are recorded at the
turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, when the monastery hammer was
founded. After the construction of ŽĎAS, the city expanded
significantly. In the 1970s, the city administration decided that
Žďár nad Sázavou should be a "modern socialist city" and therefore
ordered an extensive redevelopment of the city. Old houses (often
valuable historical buildings) in the city center were replaced by
prefabricated houses and shopping centers.
From 1994 to 2010,
Jaromír Brychta served as mayor; from 2010 to 2014, Dagmar Zvěřinová
held this position. Between 2014 and 2018, the mayor of the city was
Mgr. Zdeněk Navrátil from the association Žďár - a living town and
deputy mayor Josef Klement from KDU-ČSL. Today, the mayor is Martin
Mrkos, also on behalf of ŽŽM.