Uničov (German: Mährisch Neustadt) is a town in the Olomouc Region, located in the Haná plain about 22 km northwest of Olomouc on the river Oskava. Uničov used to be a royal town, it was founded in 1213. The cadastral area is 48.27 km² and there are approximately 11,000 inhabitants. The city has the status of a municipality with extended powers.
Masarykovo náměstí (Masaryk Square) — The beautiful central square
forms the heart of the town. It's surrounded by historic buildings and
serves as the focal point for the historic zone.
Mariánský sloup
(Marian Column / Plague Column) — A striking Baroque column from 1743,
standing about 22 meters tall in the middle of Masaryk Square. It
features a statue of the Immaculate Virgin Mary at the top, along with
rich sculptural decoration. It was built as a thank-you for protection
from plague epidemics.
Town Hall (Radnice) — The monumental
Renaissance-Baroque town hall dominates the square. Its tower is a key
landmark and offers a viewing platform (vyhlídková věž) with nice
panoramic views over the town and surrounding area.
Church of the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie) — The
main parish church, a Gothic structure with later Baroque modifications.
It's one of the oldest preserved buildings in Uničov, with notable
features like stained-glass windows, a stone cross near the presbytery,
and an old bas-relief of the Crucifixion (possibly one of the town's
oldest monuments).
Medelská brána (Medelská Gate) — One of the two
surviving original town gates from the medieval fortifications. Parts of
the old town walls are still visible in places, giving a sense of
Uničov's past as a fortified royal town.
Šatlava – Muzeum vězeňství
(Šatlava – Prison Museum) — Located in a historic building (Příční 205),
this unique museum showcases the history of imprisonment and local
justice in a former prison setting.
Muzeum baroka (Museum of Baroque)
— Focused on the Baroque heritage that defines much of Uničov's
architecture and art (1550–1750 period in Moravia).
Other interesting
spots — Include the Millerův dům (a historic house), various statues
(such as the one of Emperor Joseph II), and the overall preserved
Renaissance and Baroque facades around the center.
The settlement of the Uničov region dates back to the
Stone Age and evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the
Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Hallstatt and La Tène periods. Roman
coins were also found in the vicinity of Uničov, and iron smelting
furnaces were operated here in the 8th and 9th centuries. At that
time, Uničovsko was part of the core of the Great Moravian Empire,
after its disintegration of the Czech state. The town itself was
established on the site of the original Slavic settlement, whose
name (Latin Vnisov or Vnichov, Czech Unisov, resp. Uničov) was
probably derived from the name of the founder. But there are more
theories about the origin of Uničov's name. During the 13th century,
German colonists began to come, invited here by the Moravian
Margrave Vladislav Jindřich. In 1213, they founded the royal town,
which included the villages of Medlov, Dětřichov, Střelice, Benkov
and Renoty. The original name Uničov remained popular, but the
founders of the town called it Neustadt (New Town, Latin Nova
Civitas), and Mährisch Neustadt has been used since the 16th
century. In 1223, the charter of King Přemysl Otakar I, which thus
became the first surviving town charter in the history of the Czech
state, confirmed the privileges and town rights granted by the
original founding treaty, such as the right of mile, toll
collection, annual market law (gradually up to six annual markets
annually), the law of the municipal court, etc. Thanks to the
founders, the Germans had a permanent predominance in the city,
although the Czechs also moved here. A well-known burgher of that
time was Zikmund Albík of Uničov, later the Archbishop of Prague.
Uničov was one of the most important towns in Moravia in the
Middle Ages, although the original assumption that it would become
the center of northwestern Moravia as an upper town, which
corresponded to a generously measured square, was not fulfilled due
to weak silver finds in the area. In addition, nearby Olomouc became
the head of appeal for the entire Moravian area of Magdeburg law,
and Uničov eventually became one of the less important cities such
as Šternberk or Litovle. Nevertheless, thanks to his privileges, he
obtained sufficient funds to have, for example, a paved square
already in the middle of the 14th century. At that time, he also
concluded an agreement with Olomouc and Litovlí on maintaining
security and mutual military assistance, which proved successful
especially during the Hussite wars. In 1422 it was occupied by the
army of the Lithuanian prince Zikmund Korybutovič, who introduced
the reception of parables here, but was later conquered by Margrave
Albrecht, an ally of Zikmund of Luxembourg. Similarly, this
three-town liberated Litovel from the troops of Tábor.
In the
following period, however, the administration of the town fell into
the hands of Czech Utraquists, who expelled the German Catholics.
Uničov sided with George of Poděbrady and in 1469 managed to defend
himself against the soldiers of Matyáš Korvín. Due to his support of
the Czech king, he gained the right to seal with red wax, but he was
also in the papal curse for half a century. Ten years later, the new
king Vladislav Jagiellonský ceded Moravia to Korvín, who
nevertheless forgave the city for its previous resistance and even
confirmed all previous privileges. Gradually, the expelled German
burghers also returned, which led to the consolidation of
Catholicism. From 1609 to 1611, Jan Sarkander, who was canonized in
1995, worked here as a pastor. The Hussite period generally marked
the heyday of the city, in which crafts prospered and the first
guilds were formed. This development was stopped by the Thirty
Years' War, which led to the gradual decline of Uničov. After the
Battle of the White Mountain, he was even deprived of the status of
a royal town for a while, and Charles of Liechtenstein, lord of the
Usov castle, acquired Uničov as his fief. It was only after the
appeal that Emperor Ferdinand restored all privileges, but only as a
Catholic city. In 1626, Uničov still defended himself against the
Mansfeld army, but on June 18, 1642, he was conquered and occupied
by Torstenson's army until the Peace of Westphalia in 1650. A year
later, on June 2, 1643, almost the entire city burned down.
The restoration lasted until the beginning of the 18th century,
while the decrease in population was mainly offset by immigrants
from German areas, which made German Germany German again. However,
the city did not reach its original significance, and looting during
the wars for the Austrian heritage also had a negative effect. The
business stagnated, even though a textile manufactory and a burgher
brewery were established here. The only significant event was the
meeting of Emperor Joseph II. with the Prussian King Frederick II.
The great year of 1770. After 1850, in connection with the reform of
the municipal establishment, Uničov ceased to be a royal town and
became only the center of the judicial district, because it belonged
to the political district of Sternberg. Although a sugar factory or
a silk factory was established here in the second half of the 19th
century, it was still a predominantly agricultural town. In 1870,
however, a real grammar school was established here, and two years
later a railway was brought here. The association's life also
developed, whether it was sniper, singing, gym or volunteer fire
brigades. After the First World War, mostly German Uničov applied
for annexation to German Austria, as part of the newly declared
province of Sudetenland. However, the government of the newly formed
Czechoslovak Republic did not admit anything like that and gradually
occupied all rebel areas on its territory militarily. Czechoslovak
soldiers came to Uničov on December 16, 1918 and took over the
administration of the town without much resistance.
The
coexistence of Czechs and Germans in the city was peaceful until the
early 1930s. However, after Adolf Hitler came to power in
neighboring Germany, German nationalism began to rise in
Czechoslovakia as well, and the idea of "returning homeland" came
to life. In the 1935 elections in Uničov, as in other Sudeten
villages, the Henleins, who were preparing for a violent annexation
to the Empire, won overwhelmingly. Eventually, this was done
voluntarily after the adoption of the Munich Agreement, borders with
the future protectorate were formed not far south of the city, and
German troops were enthusiastically welcomed by Unicorn residents on
October 9, 1938. gradually disappeared. The advancing front and the
impending defeat of Germany could not be averted even by the
so-called Volkssturm created from the remaining boys, sick and old
men, many residents preferred to flee before May 6, 1945 Uničov was
occupied by soldiers of the 4th Ukrainian Front of the Red Army.
Immediately afterwards, the city administration was taken over by
the Revolutionary National Committee, followed by the local
administrative commission, which chaired Uničov until the elections
in 1946, after which the city administration moved to a 30-member
city national committee made up of representatives of the National
Front. In the same year, the expulsion of the Germans from Uničov
was completed, which completely cleansed the city.
After the
coup d'état in February 1948, an action committee was formed in
Uničov, in which the Communists had a majority and which removed all
politically "unreliable" persons from the national committee and
public life. Therefore, a number of new members joined the Communist
Party. In the following years, the existing agricultural town was
considerably industrialized, it was mainly the construction of
Uničovské strojírny, originally a branch of the Škoda plant in
Pilsen. Other companies were, for example, Farmakon or a branch of
Technolen, and a sugar factory, bakery or wood processing plant was
also expanded. In connection with this, the population also
increased, which doubled during the 1950s. A polyclinic,
kindergarten, swimming pool, public lighting and sewerage were
built. Collectivization took place in the vicinity of the town,
during which the peasants joined united agricultural cooperatives,
which later united until most of the agricultural production in the
Uničov region was managed by one cooperative based in Újezd u
Uničov. The citizens of Uničov did not experience any major changes
during the Prague Spring, all the more so shocking for them was the
invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops, when Polish tanks passed through
the city on August 21, 1968. Although at that time up to half of the
population signed a resolution against the entry of the occupying
forces and in support of the Czechoslovak government, in the
following days most of them resigned from the development of events
and some were affected by their publicly presented attitudes. There
was a period aptly named normalization. Despite the political
downturn, a modern cinema or ice rink was built during the 1970s and
1980s, as well as two large housing estates in Generála Svobody and
Nemocniční streets. The Municipal National Committee in Uničov also
began to administer a total of nine surrounding integrated
municipalities. The Communist government of one party ended with the
Velvet Revolution in November 1989.
Regional Setting: Upper Morava Valley (Hornomoravský úval)
Uničov
occupies the Uničov Plateau microregion within the Upper Morava Valley,
a major lowland and geomorphological mesoregion of the Western Outer
Subcarpathia. This elongated north-south trench depression spans about
85 km in length, nearly 30 km in width, and 1,315 km² overall (extending
into parts of the Olomouc and Zlín Regions). It forms one of the largest
and flattest true plains in the Czech Republic, with average slopes not
exceeding 1° and an average elevation of 226 m. The terrain consists of
Neogene and Quaternary sediments filling a structural depression.
The
Morava River serves as the central axis, fed by numerous tributaries.
The valley supports intensive agriculture in the fertile Haná (or Haná
plain) region—one of the most productive agricultural zones in the
country—while forest cover remains very low at around 7%, the lowest in
the Czech Republic. Uničov sits directly within this landscape,
characterized by expansive fields, gentle undulations, and alluvial
plains.
Local Topography and Terrain
The immediate landscape
around Uničov is remarkably flat and open, dominated by agricultural
fields on the Haná plain. No significant hills or steep gradients exist
within the core municipal territory; relief is subtle, shaped by fluvial
processes. The westernmost edges of the territory transition into
slightly more varied floodplain terrain. Highest points in the broader
valley microregion reach only about 331 m (e.g., Horka/Šumvaldská
horka), but Uničov itself remains low-lying at ~248 m.
Hydrology:
The Oskava River and Floodplain Features
The Oskava River (a
left-bank tributary of the Morava) flows directly through the town
center. This 50.3 km river originates at 835 m in the Hanušovice
Highlands (part of the broader Jeseníky area) and descends to its
confluence with the Morava at 213 m near Olomouc. Its drainage basin
covers 569 km², with an average discharge near the mouth of 3.53 m³/s.
Key tributaries include the Sitka, Teplička, Oslava, and others. The
lower course (from the Oslava confluence onward) is classified as a
significant watercourse; it passes through Uničov and several other
settlements before joining the Morava.
The river is integral to the
town’s geography and has shaped local settlement patterns. Its lower
reaches run alongside (but do not enter) the Litovelské Pomoraví
floodplain system. Flood risk is notable, with the river included in
Uničov’s official flood protection and warning plans managed by the
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.
Protected Areas and Natural
Features
The western tip of Uničov’s municipal territory extends into
or directly borders the Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area (96
km², IUCN Category V, established 1990). This protected zone centers on
the Morava River’s natural meandering and anastomosing floodplain
system, featuring permanent and temporary river arms, extensive
floodplain forests, and medieval dike systems that function as natural
polders for flood protection. While the core features focus on the
Morava, the adjacent Oskava corridor contributes to the overall wetland
and riparian connectivity. The area supports rich biodiversity and
includes nearby karst phenomena (e.g., Třesín hill and Mladeč caves to
the south). Its western extension near Uničov highlights the transition
from open agricultural land to protected riparian zones.
Climate
Uničov experiences a temperate continental climate (transitioning toward
oceanic influences, often classified as Cfb). Summers are warm, winters
cold with occasional snow, and precipitation is moderate and relatively
evenly distributed year-round. Annual rainfall totals approximately 738
mm across about 132 days with measurable precipitation. Winters feature
average highs around 2–4°C and lows near or below freezing; summers see
highs of 20–25°C. The flat lowland position moderates extremes slightly
compared to higher surrounding uplands, though riverine flooding and fog
can occur in the valley.
Geology, Soils, and Land Use
The
underlying geology comprises Quaternary fluvial deposits (alluvium,
loess, and gravels) overlying Neogene sediments, creating highly fertile
soils—primarily chernozems and fluvisols typical of the Haná region.
These support intensive arable farming (cereals, sugar beet,
vegetables). Land use is overwhelmingly agricultural, with scattered
settlements, minimal woodland, and riparian corridors along the Oskava.
The combination of flat terrain, fertile sediments, and reliable river
water has made the area a cornerstone of Moravian agriculture for
centuries.