Plzeň
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Pilsen redirects here. For the Pilsen Neighborhood of Chicago, see Pilsen, Chicago.
| Image:Pilsenerwappen.gif | |
| Region (kraj) | Plzeň (Plzeňský) |
| Population | 164,180 (2003) |
| Area | 138 km² |
| Coordinates | 49°43′ N 13°29′ E |
| Elevation | 293-452 m AMSL |
| Founded | 1295 |
| Website | http://info.plzen-city.cz |
| Image:Pilsen, Czech town - location.png | |
Plzeň listen ▶(?) (-Czech, German: Pilsen [also used in English]) is a city in the Czech Republic in western Bohemia, the capital of Plzeň Region. It lies about 90 km by highway southwest of Prague at the confluence of the Radbuza, Mže, Úslava and Úhlava rivers, creating the Berounka.
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History
Plzeň was first mentioned as a castle in 976, as the scene of a battle between Duke Boleslaus II and Emperor Otto II. It became a town in 1295 when King Wenceslaus II granted Plzeň its civic charter. It quickly became an important town on trade routes leading to Nürnberg and Regensburg; in the 14th century it was the third-largest town in Bohemia behind Prague and Kutná Hora. During the Hussite Wars it was the centre of Catholic resistance to the Hussites; it was thrice unsuccessfully besieged by Prokop the Great, and it took part in the league of the Romanist nobles against King George of Podebrady. The first Czech printing press was established here in 1468.
King Rudolf II made Plzeň his seat from 1599-1600. During the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by Mansfeld in 1618 after the Siege of Plzeň and not recaptured by the Imperialists until 1621. Wallenstein made it his winter-quarters in 1633. The town was unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedes in 1637 and 1648.
At the end of the 17th century Plzeň's architecture began to be influenced by the Baroque style; the historic city center has been historically preserved since 1989.
At the end of the Second World War, on May 6, 1945, Plzeň and Western Bohemia were liberated from the Nazis by General Patton's 3rd Army, unlike the rest of Czechoslovakia, which was taken by the Red Army. The Yalta Conference has placed Czechoslovakia in Soviet sphere of influence and Patton had to withdraw shortly after the armistice. Liberation of Pilsen and Western Bohemia by the 3rd Army was essentially erased from history books by the former Czechoslovak communist regime and has only recently entered public consciousness again.
Since the second half of the 1990s the city has experienced high growth in foreign investments.
Plzeň is the second largest city of Bohemia and the center of academic, business and cultural life for western Czech Republic. The University of West Bohemia, headquartered here, is well-known for its School of Engineering, School of Law and Department of Applied Mathematics.
Economy
Plzeň makes up approximately two-thirds of the GDP of the Plzeň region, even though it contains only 29.8% of the region's population.[1] Based on these figures, the city of Plzeň has a total GDP of approximately $7.2 billion, and a per-capita GDP of $44,000, making it one of the most prosperous cities in the Czech Republic.
Points of interest
Plzeň is famous for its Pilsener beer, named Pilsner Urquell and produced since 1842, and for the Škoda Works engineering factory established by Emil Škoda in 1859. The most prominent monuments are the Gothic church of St. Bartholomew, said to date from 1292, whose tower (100 m) is the highest in the Czech Republic, the Renaissance town hall dating from the 16th century, and the third largest synagogue in the world (after Jerusalem and Budapest).
Famous people associated with Plzeň
- Composer Bedřich Smetana studied here in the 1840s
- Architect of the economic reforms attached to the Prague Spring, Ota Sik, born
- Poet Miroslav Holub, born
- Singer Karel Gott born
- Inventor František Křižík lived here and introduced his electric arc lamps to the streets of Plzeň
- Josef Skupa (1892-1957), the author of the famous puppets of Spejbl (1919) and Hurvinek (1926)
- Artist Jiří Trnka (1912-1969)
- Petr Čech (born 1982), Czech international football goalkeeper
--- A neighbourhood of Chicago is called Pilsen. Once inhabited by Czechs is Mexican today.
