Příbram

This article is about the city in Czech Republic. For the neuroscientist, see Karl Příbram (disambiguation).
Příbram
Town
Country Czech Republic
Region Central Bohemian
District Příbram
Commune Příbram
River Litavka
Elevation 502 m (1,647 ft)
Coordinates CZ 49°41′18″N 14°0′33″E / 49.68833°N 14.00917°E / 49.68833; 14.00917Coordinates: CZ 49°41′18″N 14°0′33″E / 49.68833°N 14.00917°E / 49.68833; 14.00917
Area 33.41 km2 (12.9 sq mi)
 - land 33 km2 (13 sq mi)
 - water 0.38 km2 (0 sq mi)
 - urban 2.1 km2 (1 sq mi)
Population 35,475
Density 1,062 / km2 (2,751 / sq mi)
First mentioned 1216
 - Town privileges 1579
Mayor Jindřich Vařeka (ANO)
Timezone CET (UTC+1)
 - summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 261 01
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Příbram
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.pribram-city.cz

Příbram (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpr̝̊iːbram]; German: Freiberg in Böhmen, Przibram or Pribram, in the time of the German occupation (1939–1945) Pibrans) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 35,147. The city is located on the Litavka river and the foothills of the Brdy Range, 60 km (37 mi) south-west of Prague; the country's capital. The city is well known for its mining history and more recently its new venture into economic restructuring.

The city is the third largest in the Central Bohemian Region (behind Kladno and Mladá Boleslav) and is a natural administrative and cultural center of the south-western part of the region, although it also tends to be largely influenced by the economy and lifestyle of Prague.

Widely known pilgrimage site Svatá Hora ("Holy Mount") is located just above the city, while the Mining Museum Příbram, including the communist labor camp Vojna memorial is another tourism attraction.

History

From legends to Middle Ages

Several legends mentioning Příbram in the early history of Czech statehood are mentioned in the Annales Bohemorum written by Václav Hájek z Libočan in the first half of the 16th century. The legends talk about princess Libuše’s prophecy and the destroying of the Březové Hory mines by Horymír of Neumětely. Both of these mentioned stories also depict the silver mining in the region.

Hájek also explains the name of the city, although his etymology is now believed to be partially fancied, the basics of it is probably true, as the city name is derived from the name of a person, probably the site owner.

Since 1216 (first written mention), the Příbram estate has been owned by Prague bishops and soon received its walls. The city castle was built under Prague archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice. During Hussite wars in the 15th century, Příbram stood on the reformation side, but was captured and pillaged four times by Catholic aristocracy.

Archbishop Zdeněk Zajíc of Hasenburk gave Příbram town privileges, which were confirmed by King Jiří z Poděbrad in 1463, and in 1496 Příbram was named town by King Ladislaus II, as Příbram was passed over to Czech king’s hands. The economic state of city however decreased as the rulers often impledged the city and temporary masters did not care about the city development.

Modern history

Ševčinský mine - headframe

Information about the silver and iron mining in Příbram were furthered in mining books from late 16th century survived to present days. In 1579 Rudolf II promoted the reputation of Příbram by naming it the “Royal Mining City”. The Thirty Years' War had a large impact on Příbram, lowering the population and causing violent recatholicization that was supported by the growing importance of Holy Mountain, nearby the pilgrimage site.

Since the 17th century the mining boom was followed with the city growth. The city however gave the majority of its mining profit share over in favor of central Vienna government, which soon slowed the development of the city when the silver mining was at its peak at the end of the 18th century.

Five major deep-mines are built in the 18th century in Březové Hory near Příbram, starting with the St. Adalbert mine (Czech: Vojtěšský důl). The Příbram mining district became one of the most modern in Europe in the 19th century, which remained true until the 1920s. Příbram built educational sites and became the seat of central mining authorities and the mining academy. The St. Mary mine (Czech: Mariánský důl) fire in 1892 was a large-scale catastrophe, as 319 miners died. Although the real importance of Příbram mines declined after 1900, the city’s reputation as the educational and cultural centre remained high.

Region with strong partisan resistance was around Příbram during the World War II. Several prominent citizens participated in the resistance, and many were killed by Nazi occupiers. Student Antonín Stočes, his father and Příbram’s gymnasium director Josef Lukeš, were executed in Tábor in the 1942 days following the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich. Their story was idealized in Jan Drda’s fiction Vyšší princip (English: Higher Principle). General Richard Tesařík,[1] the Hero of the Soviet Union, or legionary Alois Laub, leader of the military resistance group Oliver, executed in Brandenburg in 1945, were born in Příbram.

At the beginning of May 1945, Příbram spontaneously rose up against the occupiers, the Czech authority took formally the power, but the Wehrmacht unit threatened with declaration of martial law. After negotiations, the city was liberated by the Soviet partisan brigade Death of Fascism (Czech: Smrt fašismu, Russian: Смерть фашизма) led by Captain Yevgeny Antonovich Olesinsky. Although the majority of German forces had left the city before the liberation itself, Příbram’s surroundings are said to be the place where the last shots of the World War II were fired. German troops trying to leave Soviet zone over the demarcation line were met by partisan units and eventually fought Soviet Army, General von Pückler agreed to a surrender 12 May 1945, four days after the V-E Day.

In 1950, the cities of Příbram and Březové Hory were merged.

The last epoch of Příbram mining occurred since the 1950s, when the district was opened again for uranite mining, several mines around the city were opened. The industry was included into a program of penal labour that Communist Czechoslovak government used for persecution of regime objectors. Labor camps Příbram-Vojna and Příbram-Brody were run there 1949-1951, holding up to 800 detainees.[2] The new city quarter was built for more than a half of citizens; Březové Hory and several villages (e.g. Zdaboř) became part of city, which population overcame 40,000 citizens.

Located near to the Brdy military area, Příbram was an important locality during the 1968 Occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces. The army command in Příbram was labeled focus of contrarevolution in the Czechoslovak Army as it did not cooperate the occupation forces and harbored the Czechoslovak Television during its independent broadcasting. The rioting of Příbram-Bytíz crime prisoners and the strike of Příbram miners were the other major events related to the August 1968 invasion.

The 1989 Velvet Revolution influenced the city life as much as the mines closure.

Politics and administration

Příbram city assembly is the highest authority of the city . Authorities are elected during communal election every four years and has 25 members. The assembly elects the City council of six members including the mayor and two vice-mayors. As former county (Czech: okres) city, Příbram now has a status of the city with extended agency (Czech: obec s rozšířenou působností).

All city council seats are now occupied by the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) members and the SNK European Democrats (SNK-ED), their minority coalition was enabled by the votes of Communists. Josef Řihák (ČSSD) is the current city mayor.

Příbram area of almost 13 km2 (5 sq mi) is divided into 18 city quarters, nine central numbered using Roman numerals, the others are usually the villages added to the city before in the second half of the 20th century like Brod, Bytíz, Jerusalem, Lazec, Žežice and others.

Elections in Příbram

The last time the city council was elected October 2006. During the post parliamentary election period when there was no state government with Parliament’s confidence and the situation was highly confrontational between the two strongest Czech parties – the Civic Democrats ODS and Social Democrats ČSSD.

Both parties strengthened their position in the Příbram council for the second elections in a row, while the Christian Democrats of the former mayor Josef Vacek lost both two remaining seats, Vacek himself did not act as the party leader, but he was unsuccessfully running for re-election.

The result gave the Civic Democrats a chance to continue their coalition with the Social Democrats or to close a coalition deal with the SNK European Democrats, but they were not able to do so. After two weeks of negotiations, the minority coalition of Social Democrats and SNK European Democrats was approved by the Communists' votes. The coalition broke later and it was substituted by a large majority coalition of Social Democrats and Civic Democrats.

Summary of the 2006 Příbram council elections results[3]

 
Parties and coalitions Leader Votes % Seats +/-
Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Ivan Fuksa 86,272 33.13 11 +4
Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) Josef Řihák 62,290 23.92 8 +2
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) Jiří Svoboda 35,518 13.64 4 -1
SNK European Democrats (SNK-ED) Petr Kareš 19,819 7.61 2 +2
Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-ČSL) Lenka Ptáčková Melicharová 12,566 4.82 0 -2
Green Party (SZ) Alena Šálová 11,637 4.47 0 0
Change for Příbram (Coalition of Path of Change (CZ) and independents) Jiří Schmidt 10,473 4.02 0 -2
Union for Příbram (Coalition of Freedom Union – Democratic Union US-DEU and independents) Vladimír Kříž 9,344 3.59 0 -1
Union of Independents (SN) - did not participate - 0 -2
other 12,411 4.77 0 0
Total (turnout 39.77%)   260,330   25 0

Since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the free parliamentary elections have been held five times in the Czech Republic. In 1990, the Civic Forum received clear majority of 50 to 57 per cent of votes in Příbram. In 1992, rightist coalition of Civic Democratic Party and Christian Democratic Party (KDS) won in Příbram with a total of 25 to 34.8%. Both times the deputies in three parliament chambers were elected. Since 1996, the Czech Social Democratic Party won in Příbram, starting with 30% of votes in 1996 and between 34.3 and 36.8% in 1998, 2002 and 2006; with Civic Democrats in second place all times. In 2010 elections Social Democrats won ahead of Civic Democrats once again, but they got only 24.7%.[4]

City of Příbram is the center of Příbram electoral district for the Senate elections. Social Democrat Zdeněk Vojíř won the seat in 1996 in the second round, but he lost the seat to Civic Democrat Jaromír Volný in 2002. The results in city itself were comparable to the overall district results both times.

Economy

Příbram’s economy was determined by the mining industry and supplying companies for hundreds of years. At the end of the 1980s, when the mining was slowly derogating, the basic Příbram corporations included the Uranium Mines (Czech: Uranové doly full name Czech State Uranium Industry Czech: Český státní uranový průmysl), the Ore Mines (Czech: Rudné doly) and suppliers like ZRUP (Czech: Základna rozvoje uranového průmyslu English: Base of Uranium Industry Development) and others. Also the Hamiro company was located in Příbram,

After 1989, the economy restructured because of the closure of mines and privatization. The nationwide important branch office of state enterprise Diamo is the successor of the Uranium Mines, the office is named the Administration of Uranium Deposits (Czech: Správa uranových ložisek). Several of the supplying companies continue their activities under new owners. The list of the Příbram’s biggest companies follows:

Several food industry companies or affiliates have also larger than regional importance (baking industry, beverages, meat-packing). Many services or trading companies have their seat in Příbram.

The District Economic Chamber Příbram was found in 1993.

Despite the development of Příbram enterprises, the unemployment in city and close surroundings stays high on 8.8 per cent[6] in July 2006 – higher than in other parts of former Příbram district and over average in the Central Bohemian Region.

Transport

Road transport

Příbram is located near a crossroads of a national road #18 (from Rožmitál pod Třemšínem and Votice) and the R4 expressway, which was modernized in the 1980s to a highway type road between Příbram and Prague; it heads south to Strakonice and Vimperk in the opposite direction, and in Germany is connected to road number 2 to Munich via Passau.

Příbram has an extensive system of bus connections to nearby villages and cities as well as to Prague and more distant Czech cities. Direct lines however connect Příbram also to Slovakia cities, like Poprad or Košice.

Intra-city transport is run by Connex Příbram company. The system includes 15 bus lines numbered 1 to 16 (number 13 is empty). Connex Příbram uses buses Karosa (B731, B732, B932 or B952) and SOR (B 9.5 and BN 12). Basic line no. 2 has regular 10-minutes interval (5 minutes in rush periods), other lines periodicity varies down to several buses per day.

The Bus terminal is located next to the railway station, the busiest hub for city buses is however located in the Jirásek Parks (Czech: Jiráskovy sady) near the Pražská street.

Railroad transport

Railroad from Zdice to Protivín, which runs directly through Příbram, was built in 1875. The train is now used especially for short-distance commutating. České Budějovice or Most are available direct by the Bezdrev fast train. The railway station is also important for goods and cargo transport.

Airplane transport

The Příbram airport (ICAO airport code LKPM), located 6 km (4 mi) away north-east of Příbram at Dlouhá Lhota, is a civil airport with a daylight operation on one 1.45 km (1 mi) long runway.

Landmarks and places of interest

Svatá Hora monastery and St. Jacob church are dominants of the city’s panorama. Old town has the following landmarks:

Svatá Hora

In new city, built after 1945, you can find:

In Březové Hory you can find:

Culture

Due to the notable levels of education and cultural interactions in the city, Příbram was nicknamed Brdy Athens (Czech: Podbrdské Athény) at the end of the 19th century. The city’s culture was then largely influenced by the mining industry, which went on until the late 20th century. Mining life was described by poets and writers Fráňa Kučera, Quido Maria Vyskočil and František Gellner, who lived or studied in Příbram. Many books by Příbram's most famous writer, Jan Drda, were inspired by Příbram and he used the names of the city's neighbouring villages in his tales. Some of the stories in his Němá barikáda (English: Silent Barricade) have their origin in Příbram (especially Vyšší princip – see Modern History) while his Městečko na dlani (English: City on Palm) describes Příbram directly, although reality is distorted there by having a river flowing through the city, which is named Rukapáň (English: God’s Hand) in the book.

The city library was opened in 1900.

The theatre in Příbram has a long history thanks to a long tradition of theatricals. During the struggle to build the permanent theatre stage, the plays had to be performed in different halls for a long time, especially in the Sokolovna, the hall of Příbram Sokol. In 1959 the House of Culture (Czech: Kulturní dům) was built, which hosts the Příbram theatre and includes a cinema hall (the only other cinema is the open-air stage, while two pre-1989 more cinema-halls were closed). The first cinema productions were however held in Příbram as early as in 1914. The Příbram theatre is a permanent scene with a professional ensemble, its repertory is enriched by regular on-tour performances by Prague’s and other cities ensembles. The reputation of Příbram ensemble is derived not only from departure of several actors to bigger ensembles, but also from the nationwide successful spectacle of Hrdý Budžes (English: Proud Budžes), a comedy play after book of Příbram born Irena Dousková. Barbora Hrzánová won the Thálie award as the best Czech female stage actress of the 2004 year.

Musical life of Příbram is connected to the name of Antonín Dvořák, who had his summerhouse in near Vysoká u Příbramě and visited Příbram often. In 1969, the Antonín Dvořák Music Festival was founded in Příbram, which has been organized annually until now, bringing domestic as well as foreign musicians and ensembles to the city and its neighbourhood. Příbram has its own amateur philharmonic orchestra, the Příbram Big Band still helds its concerts, miners‘ bands perform during annual miners‘festivals, the newest form of musical performances was brought to Příbram with the Ensemble of Svatá Hora Horn-Blowers.

The most important form of the city’s musical activities was the choir singing. Starting with the Lumír-Dobromila association, founded and directed by composer, choirmaster and choral director Bohumil Fidler for fifteen years, and continuing as the Příbram Mixed Choir, the ensemble made a great impact on several generations of Příbram citizens. The most important choir leaders were Antonín Vepřek and his son, Vladimír. In 1939, Antonín Vepřek founded Příbram Children Choir, which is one of the oldest children choruses in the Czech Republic. Several children choruses are organized in Příbram elementary and art schools, where the city hosts annual international show of children choruses.

Popular music is played in several clubs in Příbram, with the Junior club the oldest of them. Of the Příbram music groups, the E!E punk rock band is the most important.

Miners in Příbram used to earn more money by handicrafts (embroidery, woodcarving, painting etc.), often on good artistic level. The Christmas cribs-making (Czech: betlém) lives until today, the museum collects also several mechanical models of mine. Of the professional artists, painter and graphic artist Karel Hojden, pupil of Max Švabinský was the most important. The world-known photographer of the first half of the 20th century František Drtikol was born in Příbram. The city gallery, which now seats in Zámeček-Ernestinum, former Prague archbishop's residence, is named after him and offers permanent exhibition of his works.

The Příbram museum was founded in 1886 and after several changes of form it is now run by the Central-Bohemian Region and named Mining Museum Příbram. It is the biggest museum of its kind in the Czech Republic, it contains the objects of historical mine with old headstock, miner’s house, drift with a mining train, exhibition of mining history, geological collection and others.

Education

Příbram was the site of the Mining University, the tradition of which still continues today however the institution was moved to Ostrava in 1945. For more information about the university see below.

With the removal of the Mining University, Příbram lost the status of university city. In the 1990s, the city authorities aspired for the status again. In 2005 the College of European and Regional Studies (Czech: Vysoká škola evropských a regionálních studií, VŠERS) with seat in České Budějovice opened its affiliate in Příbram, with 30 students in the courses.[7]

There were news of another university department opened in Příbram in 2006 autumn, specialized on correspondence course of physical therapy.[8]

High schools offer in Příbram includes two gymnasiums, technical school, business academy, medical school and training college. Gymnasium Příbram was founded 1871 and serves as a general educational propaedeutics institutions for applicants for university studies. The Pod Svatou Horou gymnasium was founded in the 1990s. The technical school was derived from the preliminary courses of the Mining University, so called Mining School, founded already in 1851. In 2006 the school had 564 students.[9]

Seven elementary schools are in Příbram, six of them with traditional educational program (the number was reduced by two in the 1990s). The remaining one, found in 1991, stands on the Waldorf education program and it has also opened its own high school.

The city has 13 kindergartens and runs also two musical and art schools.[10]

Mining University in Příbram (1894–1945)

(see also Technical University of Ostrava)

Dyscrasite specimen from a uranium mine near Příbram

Mining education in Příbram dates from the beginning of the 19th century. The School of Mines was founded in 1851 and it was changed to Mining Academy in 1865. It was then the only mining educational institution in the Czech lands. The academy struggled in the shadow of Leoben academy, which repeatedly obtained its privileges in advance.

Important professors and lecturers of this era include:

In 1894, the academy received its university status decree and A. Hoffmann was elected the first chancellor of the university in 1898.

At the beginning of the 20th century the national conflicts lead to attempts to move Leoben academy to Vienna, while the Příbram school should have been dissolved. Long proceedings and the fact, that three quarters of the mining production of the Austria-Hungary was provided by the mines in the Czech lands, resulted in keeping both mining schools (Leoben and Příbram) alive. In 1904 both Leoben and Příbram institutions were renamed Mining Academy (Czech: Vysoká škola báňská) with prof. Josef Theurer as the first chancellor.

The university started with 11 departments, but the number grew to 18 in 1924. The university had the right to name doctors of mining sciences (dr. mont.). The highest number of students was almost 500 in 1921, but in the late 1930s the number fell to 120.

The position of the institution changed basically after arousal of Czechoslovakia in 1918, one year later the Czech language became the official language of the university. Many attempts to move it out of Příbram recurred, several of them initiated from the university itself, but they were refused.

World War II and the closure of Czech universities interrupted the work of the institution, which was resumed in 1945. The university was however moved to Ostrava within few months to bring the education closer to the booming mining industry in the Ostrava region. The last mining university students left Příbram in 1946 summer.[12]

Sports

Příbram is the home of 1. FK Příbram football club, successor of past Dukla Prague. The top division games have been played at the Na Litavce Stadium since 1997. The other Příbram’s football club Spartak (also called Horymír) plays regional competition.

Příbram’s volleyball club Vavex Příbram, found in 1935, has been a member of the Czech top division since 1998.

The ice hockey club entered regional league in 2006. The city is regular host of a city run, several road cycling races including the Grand Prix of Příbram. The Rallye Příbram (former Rallye Vltava) used to be part of the European Championships, now is the integrant part of the national championships. The movement of the little football plays a major role in the sport for all in the city and region organizing regular long-term competitions twice a year for almost 50 teams.

Besides the Na Litavce Stadium, the sport facilities in Příbram include two indoor ice rinks (main arena for approx. 5,000 spectators opened in 1978), indoor sports arena (opened 1978, capacity enlarged in reconstruction in 2005), modern open-air and indoor swimming pool and several playgrounds and tennis centers. Many of the Příbram’s elementary schools have their sport-oriented classes and they have sports facilities like the high schools in the city.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Příbram is twinned with:

Notable people born in or otherwise connected to Příbram

listed chronologically

Příbram meteorite

Main article: Přibram meteorite

The city was the impact site of the Přibram meteorite in 1959. This was the first meteorite whose trajectory was tracked by multiple cameras recording the associated fireball. Several fragments of it were found close to Příbram at the nearby village of Luhy.[16]

References

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Richard Tesařík in the Czech Radio web article (in Czech)
  2. ↑ “Totalita.cz” (in Czech)
  3. ↑ Parties and coalitions are listed according to their participation in the 2002 and 2006 elections, with 2006 logos. The results are cited according to the Czech Statistical Office electoral web.
  4. ↑ www.volby.cz, Czech Statistical Office web for 2010 elections
  5. ↑ The abbreviation a.s. (Czech: akciová společnost) stands for joint stock company, abbreviation s. r. o. (Czech: spolčnost s ručením omezeným) stands for limited liability company
  6. ↑ Příbramský deník article in Czech
  7. ↑ College of European and Regional Studies news webpage (in Czech)
  8. ↑ interview with VŠERS director V. Kříž
  9. ↑ Technical school Příbram history webpage (in Czech)
  10. ↑ City of Příbram official site education webpage (in Czech)
  11. ↑ H. G., Professor Gustav Ziegelheim (Nekrolog). In: Österr. Zs. f. Berg- und Hüttenwesen, 23 (1904), S. 105–106
  12. ↑ Section composed after the Technical University of Ostrava history webpage (in Czech) Archived August 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ The cities of Königs Wusterhausen and Altötting are mentioned on the municipal website as cities with continued collaboration, but not listed among the sister cities themselves. Königs Wusterhausen used to have a strong relation to Příbram before 1989.
  14. ↑ cs:František Pošepný
  15. ↑ H. G., Professor Gustav Ziegelheim (Nekrolog). In: Österr. Zs. f. Berg- und Hüttenwesen, 23 (1904), S. 105–106
  16. ↑ "Multiple fall of Příbram meteorites photographed" by Z. Ceplecha, Bull. Astron. Inst. Czechoslovakia, 12, 21-46, NASA ADS

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