Žatec (pronounced roughly "Zha-tets"; German: Saaz) is a charming
historic town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Ústí nad Labem
Region of northwestern Czechia, specifically in Louny District. It
sits on the banks of the Ohře River, roughly 62 km northwest of
Prague and 18 km west of Louny. The town has earned global fame for
its 700+ year tradition of cultivating Saaz noble hops (Žatecký
chmel), the aromatic variety prized by brewers worldwide for
Pilsner-style lagers. In 2023, Žatec and the surrounding Landscape
of Saaz Hops were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List under
criteria (iii), (iv), and (v) as the only hop-growing cultural
landscape protected by UNESCO.
The historic town centre forms a
beautifully preserved urban monument reservation (protected since
1961), with an additional urban monument zone south of the core
(since 2003) highlighting 19th–20th-century hop-processing
infrastructure. Red-roofed Baroque and Renaissance buildings line
cobblestone streets, while distinctive tall hop-drying kilns (the
“chimneys that never smoked”) rise above the skyline — a visual
signature of the town’s identity.
Žatec’s historic core dazzles with architecture spanning Romanesque
to Art Nouveau. Key landmarks include:
Svobody Square — the
lively central plaza with the Baroque town hall and Holy Trinity Column.
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary — originally Romanesque
(parts preserved), later Baroqueised with a striking west façade and
added Chapel of St John of Nepomuk.
Temple of Hops and Beer (Chrám
chmele a piva) — a modern tourist complex in a former hop warehouse
featuring interactive exhibits, a lookout tower offering panoramic
views, and a small astronomical clock.
Hop Museum and Brewing Museum
— both trace the 700-year story of hops and beer with artefacts, tools,
and multimedia.
Dočesná — the annual September hops harvest festival
on the town square, one of Czechia’s liveliest folk events with parades,
music, beer tasting, and hop-crown ceremonies.
Other draws
include the Retro Computer exhibition (135+ vintage machines) and nearby
Stekník Castle (linked to hop history). The town is sometimes called
“the town of chimneys that never smoked” because the tall hop-drying
kilns never produced smoke — only fragrant hop aroma.
Žatec lies on the Plzeň–Most railway line with two stations (Žatec
and Žatec západ). Roads connect it easily to Prague and other regional
centres. The town offers six primary schools, a gymnasium, agricultural
and hospitality secondary schools, and a primary art school. Sports
include FK Slavoj Žatec (football) and facilities at Mládí and Flora
stadiums.
A visit to Žatec combines living heritage, excellent local
beer, scenic countryside, and a warm welcome in a town that feels both
timeless and vibrantly alive. Whether exploring the UNESCO-protected hop
fields at golden hour, wandering the medieval square, or raising a glass
at the Temple of Hops and Beer, visitors quickly understand why this
small Bohemian town has earned a place on the world stage.
Since the foundation
However, Ostrožna nad Ohří was
first fortified at the end of the late Hallstatt period. In the
eighth and ninth centuries, according to archeological findings,
there was an unfortified settlement on it, which was replaced by the
Žatec fort in the first half of the tenth century. The first written
mention of him in 1004 is contained in the chronicle of Dětmar of
Merseburg. In 1265 King Přemysl Otakar II. granted Žatec city
privileges. The work The Plowman and Death (Ackermann aus Böhmen) by
the Žatec town notary Jan of Žatec from 1400 is very well known,
considered to be the pinnacle of late medieval German literature in
the Czech lands. In 1404, the Žatec castle is mentioned for the
first time.
Hussites
Žatec played an important role during
the Hussite revolution. Initially, at a time of strong influence of
Chiliasm, it was even considered one of the five cities (along with
the "city of the Sun" of Pilsen, Louny, Klatovy and Slany), which
will escape destruction in the coming end of the world. Important
Hussite priests Petr Němec and Petr Špička worked in the town. In
1421, the town withstood the attack of the Second Crusade to
Bohemia. Together with the towns of Louny and Slaný, the Žatec-Louny
association was formed, headed by Jakoubek of Vřesovice.
The
Hussite period
In the 16th century, Žatec was one of the largest
Czech towns and was the center of the Žatec region. It remained a
regional town until 1850.
White mountain
Žatec also joined
the estate uprising. His former mayor - Maxmilián Hošťálek of
Javořice - was one of 27 Czech insurgents executed on June 21, 1621
in the Old Town Square. The Thirty Years' War meant a significant
decline and the gradual Germanization of the hitherto ethnically
predominantly Czech city.
From the 18th century to the
occupation
The 18th and 19th centuries meant the further
development of brewing and hop growing in and around the city. In
those days, for example, a new brewery was founded on the site of
the former castle on Žižkov Square (where it is to this day), a hop
association and a hop market. As far as administrative development
is concerned, Žatec remained the seat of the region even after the
reform of the regional establishment in 1788, and from 1850 it fell
into the status of a district town. In 1930, the city had a
population of 18,000, mostly of German nationality, and in October
1938, after the Munich Dictate, it was annexed to the Third Reich as
part of the Sudetenland.
World War II
Zatec became the
border town of the Third Reich. At the end of World War II, the city
served as one large infirmary and hiding place for fleeing Wehrmacht
soldiers. A military airport was built near the city, which was used
to test new, perhaps even "miraculous" (according to the Reich
leader Hitler) weapons and other aircraft. According to eyewitnesses
from nearby villages (Vyškov, Blažim, Počerady…), an aircraft with a
vertical takeoff and landing, not unlike a circular flying saucer,
was probably also tested here, but it was definitely not a
helicopter. Such a machine frightened a group of women working in a
field not far from Vyškov in the autumn of 1944, when it landed in
the field within sight and two pilots got out of it. The military
airport with a concrete runway then served the army of the
Czechoslovak Republic and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic long
after the war, and the squadron stationed here was primarily tasked
with guarding the western border with Germany. In the early 1960s,
two MiG-15s took off from there against an intruder, represented by
two US Army Typhoon-type machines from a base in Germany. One
machine was partially damaged by light shooting of the pilot from
the Zatec base. Even so, he managed to return over the territory of
Germany, where he made an emergency landing a few km outside the
border. This incident is the only documented combat contact between
Czechoslovak pilots and NATO pilots.
Oldřich Pelčák, a later
member of the planned first non-Russian and non-US space crew, also
served among the pilots of the Žatec airport, where the second
candidate from the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was Vladimír
Remek, who was eventually selected for this task. In the 1980s and
early 1990s, Václav Vašek served here and excellently represented
the art of Czech military pilots, who, in addition to Russian and
Ukrainian pilots, was the only one to perform an element of high
aerial acrobatics, the so-called "Bell", with a top supersonic
aircraft.
Shortly before the end of the war, an air raid was
carried out on today's western railway station. Zatec was liberated
by the Red Army.
From the end of World War II until 1989
After the Second World War, the German population was displaced
and settled in Bohemia. At the turn of May and June 1945, there was
a wild deportation in Žatec carried out by members of the
Revolutionary Guards and the army. These actions culminated in the
Postoloprt massacre.
In the summer of 1948, 24 Avia S-199
aircraft (disassembled into individual parts and stored in the
bowels of large aircraft) were sent from the Žatec airport as part
of Czechoslovakia's military aid to the newly formed state of Israel
(the so-called Žatec-Haifa action). In accordance with the same
action in support of the new state of Israel from the Žatec airport
(codenamed Etzion) also launched fully militarily 3 so-called flying
forts with a stopover at the base in Italy and aiming over Egypt,
where they bombed Egyptian positions and helped maintain part of the
military. forces that could not intervene in the invasion of Israel.
The pilots were Americans or English.
During the
administrative reform, on June 1, 1960, Žatec did not politically
"defend" the title of the district town, which became Louny, 20 km
away. In 1961, Žatec was declared a city monument reserve. During
the 70's and 80's there was a stormy construction of housing
estates, especially in the western and southern part of the city,
valuable suburban farms and large neighborhoods from the 19th and
early 20th century are liquidated. The historical core of the town
is dilapidated, most of the funds, redistributed to the district,
belong to the new district town of Louny. District offices, a court,
some strategic companies (a dairy, etc.) are gradually being removed
from Žatec, and an ice rink has been built in Louny from the cooling
facility of the new dairy line. This situation persisted until 1989,
when Žatec embarked on the path of his own renewal.
Present
Today, there is a gradual restoration of historical monuments. Some
buildings in the city are falling into disrepair, but their
restoration is already underway. The eastern part of the city center
is very bad (ie the area of Chelčické náměstí), as it was
inhabited by inadaptable inhabitants in earlier years. In 2006, the
Svobody Square (the area in front of the town hall) was
reconstructed.
The city has a hospital, grammar school, 2
business academies, two vocational schools, 4 primary schools,
kindergartens and a special primary school and 2 railway stations.
Furthermore, a theater with digital cinema and 3D cinema, summer
cinema. Žatecké noviny and Žatecký týdeník are published. Security
is provided by the Fire and Rescue Service, the city police and the
Police of the Czech Republic, the city is home to a military
garrison (4th Rapid Deployment Brigade). Work is underway on the
major renovation and rebuilding of the barracks in a modern military
town in the city.
At the turn of the millennium, unemployment
in the Louny district increased to about 15% at the beginning of
2006. In 2008, on the other hand, it dropped significantly to about
7%, which was caused by the massive construction of factories around
Žatec, Louny and Podbořany.
Žatec lies in the fertile Most Basin at an average elevation of 233
m. The Ohře River flows through the town, joined by the Liboc on the
western edge and the Blšanka in the Trnovany district. The surrounding
countryside consists of rolling agricultural plains ideal for hops —
long, narrow fields of tall green bines supported by wires and poles
create a distinctive striped pattern visible for kilometres.
The
climate is oceanic (Köppen Cfb) with cool winters and warm summers.
Annual average temperature is 9.5 °C; July averages 19.6 °C and January
0.1 °C. Precipitation totals about 476 mm yearly, with July the wettest
(70 mm) and February the driest (18 mm). Record extremes range from
−31.2 °C (1929) to 38.9 °C (2012). Snow is modest, averaging 35 cm
annually, mostly in winter months.
As of 1 January 2025, Žatec had 18,959 inhabitants (density 444/km²) across an area of 42.68 km². The population peaked around 20,000 in the early 1990s, dipped slightly, and has remained stable. The town comprises seven municipal parts, the largest being the main Žatec district (17,729 in 2021). It is governed by a mayor (currently Radim Laibl) and municipal council.
Žatec is the heart of the Czech Republic’s largest hop-growing region
and home to the world’s largest hop warehouse. Saaz hops hold protected
designation of origin status and flavour countless international beers.
The Žatec Brewery (founded 1800–1801) still operates, continuing a
tradition older than many European nations.
The “Prague Suburb”
(Pražské předměstí) south of the centre is a remarkable 19th-century
industrial zone of hop warehouses, kilns, and processing halls — part of
the UNESCO site. Hops remain the economic and cultural backbone,
supporting tourism, brewing, and agriculture.