Location: Central Bohemia
Regional Museum
Location:
Brandlova 27
Tel. 321 723 841
Open: Tue- Sun
Kolín (German: Kolin, Köllein, Collin) is a city in the Kolín
district in the east of the Central Bohemian Region, located on the
Elbe River. It is also a municipality with extended scope.
Approximately 33 thousand inhabitants live here and it has an area
of 35 km² with an average altitude of 220 meters. It lies about 60
km east of Prague on both banks of the Elbe.
Kolín was
probably founded before 1261 by Přemysl Otakar II. The preserved
historical core is protected as a city heritage reserve. In 1845,
Kolín was connected to an important railway between Prague and
Olomouc, this fact is very important for the further prosperity of
the city, and from the second half of the 19th century the city
underwent rapid industrialization.
Cologne is an important
railway junction. The chemical, automotive, engineering, food,
printing and metallurgical industries are represented here.
In honor of the local music composer František Kmoch, the Kmochův
Kolín International Brass Music Festival takes place in Kolín, and
the work of the photographer Jaromír Funke is commemorated by the
Funke Kolín Photography Festival.
Since 1989, the historic core has been declared a city
monument reserve. It has preserved the original medieval
floor plan. On Charles Square there are Baroque houses, a
neo-Renaissance town hall, a plague column and a fountain.
The southwestern part consists of a former Jewish ghetto
with a synagogue from the 17th century. The center is
surrounded by a double belt of walls (partially preserved)
with a fence. The advanced part of the city fortifications
on the right bank of the Elbe is called the Powder Room. It
dates back to the 15th century, and later served as a
gunpowder warehouse.
The dominant feature of the city
is the church of St. Bartholomew, originally early Gothic
from the second half of the 13th century. Petr Parléř
participated in its reconstruction into a Gothic cathedral
at the end of the 14th century. It is a national cultural
monument. Other churches in the city are the Baroque Church
of St. Vitus na Zálabí (originally Gothic from the 14th
century), the Church of the Holy Trinity with a Capuchin
monastery, the Church of St. John the Baptist, now used by
the Orthodox Church, the Church of the Czechoslovak Church
from 1932 and the ruins of the Church of All Saints near the
railway station. Houses at the Zlatého jablka on Charles
Square or Budilova's villa in Bezručová Street are listed
buildings.
West of the city center is the second
oldest and second largest Jewish cemetery in Bohemia from
1418 with more than 2,600 tombstones. It is here
also
the tombstone of the son of the well-known Prague rabbi Löw
from 1599. There is a new Jewish cemetery in Zálabí, founded
at the end of the 19th century. It was extensively damaged
during the Second World War and during the construction of
the bridge over the Elbe.
In front of the gymnasium
building, a restored monument to Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk has
been standing since 1990. It was found in 1989 under coal
and old tires in the cellar of the Nelahozeveské castle
together with the T. G. M. monument by Břetislav Benda from
1946 for Brandýs nad Labem.
Since 2007, the renewed
Kolín beet groove has been in operation. You can pay for a
ride around Cologne along this line. Today it is about four
kilometers long. Today, a well-known Cologne building is
also the defunct Cologne waterworks, as well as the
"sixteenth floor" known among the locals, the tallest
building in Cologne, with a pharmacy on the ground floor. In
addition, there are architecturally valuable interwar
buildings of the gymnasium (originally a business academy)
or the Cologne railway station.
From the second half
of the 19th century, the city developed dynamically as the
industrial center of central Polabí, thanks to which it
became the largest city in eastern central Bohemia. A number
of industrial monuments from this period have been preserved
today:
The castle brewery with a malt house in the
grounds of the Cologne castle, first mentioned in 1531,
rebuilt by the prominent economic expert František Horský
from Horskyfeld between 1865 and 1873. Currently, some
buildings have been repaired, others were needlessly
demolished by the city.
Radimského or the so-called
Podskalský mill on the Podskalské embankment at Zálabí,
first mentioned in 1285, rebuilt in 1870 and 1923. The mill
was operated from 1851 by the famous Radimský family from
Cologne, whose members included prominent politicians and
artists. The most famous representative is the painter
Václav Radimský. Currently, the mill is maintained, but it
is dilapidated.
Formánek's mill with a machine shop and
foundry in Rybářské street, first mentioned in 1285, rebuilt
in 1879. The owner was, among others, Josef Formánek, mayor
of Cologne from 1868 to 1890. Today used as warehouses and
workshops for smaller businesses. The area is currently
dilapidated.
The Cologne factory for coffee substitutes,
famous as the so-called Cologne chicory, built in 1894 by
the well-known politician and architect Čeňko Křička. Later,
she switched to making sweets. A silo was added in 1987.
Still functional today with exceptionally well-preserved art
nouveau elements and a 35-meter high brick chimney.
Vavruška Sodovkarna. The company was originally founded as
an oil pressing factory by Ignác Selikovský in 1856, taken
over by the Fischer brothers in 1861. In 1912, Otakar
Vavruška bought the building and started the production of
lemonades here under the Koli brand to this day. Extensions
took place in 1951–1953, but most of the buildings were
preserved in their condition after the fire of 1877.
Joint sugar factory, joint-stock company, built in 1864 by
the Pardubice builder Karel Krátký east of the railway
station. Most of the buildings were demolished in 2010. Only
a small production building and a building for officials
remain today.
The Kolinea confectionery and chocolate
factory in the street on the coast east of the center,
founded in 1896 by Karel Cyvín, extended between 1940 and
1942. Production ended in the 1950s.
Joint-stock factory
for the production of artificial fertilizers and lučebka on
Pražská Street, the so-called Lučebka. Founded in 1871.
Continuous additions. Still functional today, it produces
building and industrial chemical products.
Czech
joint-stock company for refining kerosene in Ovčárecká
street in Zálabí, or Petrolka, since 1925 part of the Vacuum
Oil Company, later KORAMO. Built between 1902 and 1903,
modernized between 1929 and 1939, restored in 1945 after air
raids during the Second World War. Still functional and
well-preserved, part of the Unipetrol concern.
Joint-stock company for the processing of potassium lye in
Havlíčková Street, the so-called Draslovka. Founded between
1907 and 1908, rebuilt in 1935, restored after air raids in
1947. Still functional and well-preserved, it mainly
produces and processes hydrogen cyanide. There are also two
valuable brick factory chimneys, 64 and 35 meters high, in
the area. The original building of the so-called new
distillery from 1871 has also been well preserved between
the potash plant and the railway.
Wiesner's machine shop,
founded between 1870 and 1875 in Rybářská Street No. 56 next
to the Cologne station. It mainly produced equipment for
sugar factories. It ceased to exist in 1936, at the
beginning of the 1950s the production of ovens was moved
here. Furnaces are manufactured here under the Elektroteplo
brand to this day. The entrance building with decorative
elements on the facade, situated in a picturesque corner
next to the branch of the Elbe river, is particularly well
preserved.
Masaryk bridge, lock and hydroelectric plant.
The bridge was built between 1924 and 1927, the power plant
in 1931. The entire complex is still functional, the
hydroelectric power plant was reconstructed between 2011 and
2012 and fitted with new technology, including turbines.
The footbridge to Kmochův ostrov, built in 1885. The stone
pillars were made by the Cologne builder Josef Sklenář, the
iron structure was supplied by the Vojtěšská huť in Kladno.
Still fully functional today.
The ESSO power plant in
Tovární street in Zálabí, built by architect Jaroslav
Fragner in 1932. A very valuable functionalist building,
after 1948 it was used as a heating plant. It is still
functional today. The factory replaced the original Křižík
steam power plant near the station from 1911, of which only
the small building No. 271 in Pod Hroby Street has survived
to this day.
In addition to the above mentioned,
there are a number of other well-preserved sites in Kolín,
e.g. Stanislav Orl's chemical factory in Brankovická street
in Zálabí, the Fram car factory in Ovčárecká street in
Zálabí, the Prchal-Ericsson / Tesla site or the ironworks of
Josef and Prokop Červinkov in Havlíčková street,
Veletovského brickyard in Plynárenská street and the
Kašparides brothers' machine shop in Polepská street.
However, a potentially very attractive industrial heritage
is still not systematically developed, despite its abundant
presence. On the contrary, some demolitions have already
taken place, in addition to part of the buildings of the
castle brewery (spilka, barley grounds), in 2007 the
valuable site of the printing house of J.L. Bayer, which
included buildings from the end of the 19th century and from
the 20s of the following century, was also demolished. The
Futurum department store was built in its place, but it was
designed without any connection to the history or
architecture of the famous company.
In addition to
the two Jewish cemeteries, the city in the Zálabí district
is home to the Municipal Cemetery (1880) and an Evangelical
cemetery. Another public burial ground is the cemetery in
Sendražice and the columbarium in the church of the
Czechoslovak Hussite Church.
According to the opinion of linguist Milan Harvalík, the name Kolín
is derived from the neighboring village of Starý Kolín, which used to be
called "Kolín" and the epithet "Starý" was given to it only later, after
the creation of today's city of Kolín; it used to be called "New
Cologne" (in the German environment the epithet "Neu" lasted longer).
According to Harvalík, the basis of the word "Kolín" is the personal
name "Kola" (which was the homely address of the bearer of the medieval
name "Kolimír") or "Chola" (according to the old Czech expression
"choliti", today the word "chlácholit"), to which a possessive suffix
was added "-in", which gave rise to the combination in the sense of
Chol's court, Chol's castle or Chol's property.
According to
other sources (presented, for example, on the city's official website),
the name comes from the Old Czech word "koliti", i.e. "to hammer pegs,
stakes", and is related to the location of Staré Kolín in the often
flooded area at the confluence of the Klejnárka and the Elbe, in the
vicinity of which she used wooden stakes to strengthen the soil. Later,
a more advantageous location was chosen for the developing market
settlement on a higher ground 7 km westward. The new settlement (and
later royal city) retained the name of the original settlement.
There are other, less likely interpretations. The name could also be
derived from its location on a high place, a hill - in Latin "colinus",
which, of course, contradicts the existence of Staré Kolín. According to
another theory, the Latin form of Colonia is related to the arrival of
German colonists in Bohemia.
Kolín was founded by relocation before 1261 (first written
mention) probably by Přemysl Otakar II. However, this area has
been inhabited continuously since prehistoric times, the
presence of Slavs can be documented as early as the 6th century
AD. By order of King Přemysl Otakar II. the city fortifications
were built from a double belt of stone walls. The medieval city
was also protected by the mighty river Elbe, but its opposite
bank was also fortified. A remnant of the fortification system
is the Zálab bastion, the so-called Powder Room, from the 15th
century.
In 1413, the city burned down and in 1421 it was
conquered by the people of Prague together with the Oreb
Hussites, who burned down the Dominican monastery. Six years
later, the town fell into the hands of the orphan governor Jan
Čapek of Sán, who held it until 1434. Then the town and the
surrounding church estates were controlled by the Tábor priest
Bedřich of Strážnice, who built the Lapis refugii castle on the
ruins of the monastery in 1437 and on the opposite rock behind
the Elbe, a high defensive tower. The castle was later rebuilt
into a castle by the Žerotín family and from the 19th century it
was used only as farm buildings and a brewery.
In 1454,
Bedřich allied himself with the Catholic opponents of the land
administrator Jiří z Poděbrady, lord of Hradec and Rožmberk.
Bedřich from Strážnice ruled the Cologne estate until 1458, when
Jiří z Poděbrady was elected king of Bohemia and banished
Bedřich to his Potštejn castle. Jiří from Poděbrady donated an
ungelt (market fee) in the gates and on the bridge, as well as a
yard in Křečhoř to the town.
After the death of the Czech
king George of Poděbrady in 1471, the city was in the possession
of his son Viktorin, prince of Minstrberk. He opposed the newly
elected King Vladislav Jagiellon and invited his brother-in-law,
King Matthias of Hungary, to Cologne. Hungarian troops held
Cologne until 1473. Then the city passed into the hands of
Viktorín's brother Hynek (apparently after the assembly in
Benešov, when Hynek became the administrator of the land). But
he also became Vladislav's opponent, after Vladislav did not
fulfill his promise to marry Hynk's sister Ludmila, and in 1476
he ceded the city to Matyáš for 20,000 guilders. In May and June
1477, Matyáš made two unsuccessful attempts to occupy the city.
At the convention in Jihlava (1486), Matthias finally returned
Cologne to King Vladislav.
But the city was considered
part of the Cologne castle and estate, whose governors or
registered holders themselves renewed the city council and
exercised influence over the political and judicial
administration of the city. This was changed in 1519 by King
Ludvík Jagiellon, who in his decree included Cologne again among
the royal cities.
However, not only good times awaited
him. In 1547, the city was heavily fined by King Ferdinand for
participating in the estate rebellion. The development of the
city was also damaged by fires in 1579, 1587, 1589, 1597 and
1617 and the plague in 1568, 1582, 1598 and 1613. And in 1618,
the people of Cologne took part in the estate uprising, for
which they were affected by the confiscation of the city's
estates after the Battle of Bílá Hora and by taking away many
privileges.
It wasn't until 1628 that the city was
declared Catholic and Ferdinand II. he returned most of his
privileges and also returned the confiscated estates. The city
further suffered great damage in the Thirty Years' War, when it
was repeatedly plundered by the Swedes in 1634, 1639–1640, 1643
and 1648. The city was hit by plague epidemics in 1625, 1633,
1640 and 1649.
The War of the Austrian Succession
(1740–1748) again severely damaged the city, as did another
seven-year war in the years 1756–1763, when the Battle of
Cologne (June 17, 1757) was fought, in which the Prussian King
Frederick II. defeated. Only the reforms of Maria Theresa
brought calm and development to the city. However, in 1796, the
city was almost completely destroyed by a great fire.
After the Napoleonic Wars, the city experienced growth and
prosperity. In 1845, Kolín was connected to the important
railway between Prague and Olomouc, this fact is very important
for the further prosperity of the city. From the second half of
the 19th century, the city underwent rapid industrialization.
The first (1856–1873) created food plants (oil mills,
distilleries, sugar factories, breweries, steam mills) connected
to the fertile agricultural background of the city, and a
logging factory producing fertilizers for the peasants. At the
turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, following on from the
previous plants, new factories with progressive branches were
established, this time mainly with a chemical focus. In the 20th
century, the city became one of the centers of the chemical
industry in the Czech lands.
At the time of the national
revival, Kolín was one of the first cities with a patriotic
movement. On December 28, 1890, Prof. T. G. Masaryk in front of
more than 400 listeners, among whom there was also a large
representation of the Jewish community, which previously leaned
more towards the Old Bohemians. Masaryk's lecture, which he gave
at the Civic Club in Cologne on July 6, 1895, on the occasion of
the 480th anniversary of Hus's burning, was also widely
attended. He prepared the lecture for print under the title Jan
Hus, our revival and our reformation.
In 1932, a thermal
power plant with the highest chimney in Bohemia was completed.
The power plant was designed by the architect Jaroslav Fragner
(along with a number of other buildings in the city). As of this
year, eight hotels were registered in the city (Central, Grand,
Lidový dům, Pošta, U černého kône, U Přemysla, Veselý), three
cafes (Arco, Lidový dům, U Amerikána), 12 financial
institutions, a trade committee, a sugar factory, two
distilleries, seven brickyards, 11 factories (including Hellada
soaps, Vacuum Oil Company mineral oils, Sedláček machines, also
chemical, coffee products or three for confectionery). The
district office, the district court, the district gendarmerie
headquarters, the main customs office, the tax administration,
the cadastral land surveying office, the state real gymnasium,
the business academy, the regional industrial school and also
the district hospital operated here.
Around the first half of the 14th century, Jews settled here, they are documented in the city books of 1377. The Jewish community in Kolín gradually gained considerable importance, ranking among the largest and most influential until the middle of the 19th century. The old Jewish cemetery, founded in 1418, is today the second most important in Bohemia. During the reign of Maria Theresa, an influential city official Tumlíř lived in Cologne, who refused to obey the empress' order to evict Jews from Czech cities. That is why the Jews stayed in Cologne and prayed for their benefactor in the local synagogue on every major holiday.
The knight Vuzan was about to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. So
that his wife would not forget him in the meantime, he had her
cast a bell for the church of St. Bartholomew. His wife is said
to have thrown several silver coins into the bells to make the
sound of the bell louder. The knight said he would be back in
ten years. When the knight did not return even after ten years,
his wife began to think of new dowries. As she walked with her
bridegroom to the church, she was thinking more of her lost
husband than of the coming wedding, when suddenly her bell began
to ring: "Hola, there comes my lord from war!" The knight
returned and lived happily with his wife as long as he could.
In 1796, the bell fell from the tower during a fire, broke
into pieces and was poured over. The rumor about Vužan was
captured by Josef Svatopluk Machar in the poem Zvon in his
collection Golgatha.
Kolín is located in the Central Bohemia region, 55 km east of
Prague. The city stretches on both banks of the Elbe at the
point where the river changes its direction from west to north
in a large arc. It lies on the edge of the Polabská lowland,
which stretches north and east of the city and belongs to the
Central Laban plate. From the south and west, the foothills of
the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands slope down to the city. The
gradually descending plain is disturbed by the valleys of the
Polepské and Pekelské streams. The Východolabská tabule reaches
the town in the north-east by Vinice hill (237 m above sea
level). The city center lies on a rock on the left bank of the
Elbe.
In the vicinity of the city there are floodplain
forests, today protected by the state (Veltrubský luh). Also to
the east of the city is the natural monument Kolínská túňa.
The division of the city
The city's territory is divided
into 10 parts in four cadastral territories:
k. ú. Kolín, has
an area of 23.47 km2.
Kolín I – the historic center of the
city (See also Monuments). It lies together with parts of Kolín
II–IV and Kolín VI on the left bank of the Elbe.
Cologne II –
Prague Suburb. It lies west of the center and is the most
populated part of the city, as it is home to the largest housing
estate in Cologne. The dominant feature on the western edge of
the city is the waterworks, which, however, no longer fulfills
its original purpose.
Kolín III – Kouřimské Prétměstí. It
lies south of the center. The dominant feature is the gymnasium
building with a tower.
Kolín IV – Kutnohorské Suburb. It lies
east of the center. There is a train and bus station here.
Kolín V – Zálabí. The largest Cologne suburb, which lies on the
right bank of the Elbe. It is characterized by a fan-shaped
street layout, disturbed by the construction of the New Bridge.
The main city cemetery is located here. Zálabí was annexed to
Kolín in the 15th century, before that it was the property of
the monastery in Sedlec. It was created by the merger of the
defunct municipalities of Brankovice and Mnichovice.
Kolín VI
– Štítarské suburb, called Vejfuk by local people. It lies
between Kolín II and Štítary. It was created as a residential
area in the interwar period of the 20th century.
Šťáralka –
originally an independent settlement is located on the eastern
edge of the city by the main road I/38 in the direction of
Čáslav. It immediately follows the Kutnohorské suburb.
k. ú.
Sendražice near Kolín, part of Sendražice – originally a
separate municipality, part of Kolín since 1986. It lies north
of the city in the direction of Ovčary, connecting to Zálabí.
k. ú. Štítary near Kolín, part of Štítary – originally a
separate municipality, part of Kolín since 1961, located
southwest of the city center.
district of Zibohlava, part of
Zibohlava - originally a separate municipality, part of Kolín
since 1988 (previously part of Radovesnice I). It lies at the
end of the Štítarské údolí southwest of the city center.
In the years 1988–1990, the independent village of Radovesnice I
was briefly part of the city and today it is again independent.
Territorial incorporation
The history of territorial
incorporation covers the period from 1850 to the present. The
chronological overview shows the territorial administrative
jurisdiction of the municipality in the year when the change
occurred:
1850 Czech land, Pardubice region, political and
judicial district of Kolín
1855 Czech land, Čáslav region,
Kolín judicial district
1868 Czech land, political and
judicial district of Kolín
1939 Czech land, Oberlandrat
Kolín, political and judicial district of Kolín
1942 Czech
land, Oberlandrat Prague, political and judicial district of
Kolín
1945 Czech land, administrative and judicial district
of Kolín
1949 Prague region, Kolín district
1960 Central
Bohemia region, Kolín district
2003 Central Bohemian region,
municipality with extended scope of Kolín
Administrative
territory
Kolín was formerly a district town, currently it is
a municipality with extended powers and an authorized municipal
office. However, the Kolín district still exists and consists of
89 municipalities, the administrative district of the Kolín
municipality with extended jurisdiction consists of 69
municipalities. The district court and the district prosecutor's
office still operate here. The neighboring villages of the seat
are Ovčary, Veltruby, Pašinka, Tři Dvory, Starý Kolín, Křečhoř,
Polepy, Radovesnice I, Nová Ves I, Nebovidy and Kbel.