Žatec

For the municipality in the Vysočina Region, see Žatec (Jihlava District).

Žatec
Town
Svobody Square with town hall and Holy Trinity Column
Flag Coat of arms
Žatec Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 50°19′48″N 13°32′40″E
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Ústí nad Labem
District	Louny
First mentioned	1004
Government
• Mayor	Radim Laibl
Area
• Total	42.68 km^2 (16.48 sq mi)
Elevation	233 m (764 ft)
Population  (2024-01-01)[1]
• Total	19,046
• Density	450/km^2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	438 01
Website	www.mesto-zatec.cz
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops
Criteria	Cultural: (iii), (iv), (v)
Designated	2023 (45th session)
Reference no.	1558-002

Žatec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʒa.tɛt͡s]; German: Saaz) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz noble hops used by several breweries. Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation and partly also as an urban monument zone.

Administrative parts

The villages of Bezděkov, Milčeves, Radíčeves, Trnovany, Velichov and Záhoří are administrative parts of Žatec.

Etymology

The name Žatec is derived from the Old Czech word záteč / zateč. It was a designation for a place on a river where ice accumulates in a narrowed channel.^[2]

Geography

Žatec is located about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Louny and 62 km (39 mi) northwest of Prague. It lies in an agricultural landscape of the Most Basin. The highest point is at 337 m (1,106 ft) above sea level. The Ohře River flows through the town. The Liboc River joins the Ohře on the western outskirts of the town. The Blšanka River flows through the Trnovany part of Žatec and then joins the Ohře just outside the territory of Žatec.

History

The Priests' Gate, part of remains of the town fortifications

The first written mention of Žatec is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004. In 1248, Žatec was firstly titled as a town. In 1265, it received the privileges of a royal town from King Ottokar II.^[3]

In the 16th century, Žatec had around 5,000 inhabitants and was one of the most populous towns in the kingdom. In 1827, a chain bridge over the Ohře, the first chain bridge in Bohemia, was built.^[3]

From the outbreak of the Hussite Wars in 1419 to the Thirty Years' War, the town was Hussite or Protestant, but after the Battle of White Mountain (1620) the greater part of the Czech inhabitants left the town.^[3] It remained an ethnically German town until 1945, when the Germans were expelled. On 3 June 1945, 5,000 male Sudeten German inhabitants from Žatec were marched to the town square of Postoloprty, and at least 763 were murdered. Estimates range up to 2,000 victims killed by Czechoslovak military on the march, in Postoloprty, and in Žatec on and after the march.^[4]

Demographics

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% 1869 10,050 —     1880 11,716 +16.6% 1890 14,590 +24.5% 1900 17,858 +22.4% 1910 18,745 +5.0%	Year Pop. ±% 1921 17,761 −5.2% 1930 19,806 +11.5% 1950 14,088 −28.9% 1961 15,661 +11.2% 1970 16,525 +5.5%	Year Pop. ±% 1980 19,145 +15.9% 1991 20,320 +6.1% 2001 19,919 −2.0% 2011 18,786 −5.7% 2021 18,467 −1.7%
Source: Censuses[5][6]

Economy

Žatec and its surroundings is known for its tradition of growing Saaz hops. Saaz hops or Žatec hops is a protected designation of origin.^[7]

The tradition of beer brewing started here in 1261; growing of hops is first documented in 1348.^[3] In 1800–1801, the Žatec Brewery started its production, which continues to this day.^[8]

Transport

Žatec train station

Žatec is located on the railway line Plzeň–Most. The town is served by two train stations: Žatec and Žatec západ.

Culture

Žatec hosts Dočesná, a hops-related harvest festival. It takes place on the town square every September.^[9]

Education

Žatec is home to three secondary schools: Žatec Gymnasium, Business Academy and Secondary Vocational School of Agriculture and Ecology, and Secondary Vocational School SČMSD (focused on the hotel industry and gastronomy). There are six primary schools and also one primary art school.^[10]

Sport

Žatec is represented by the football club FK Slavoj Žatec, playing in lower amateur tiers. It was founded in 1936.^[11]

The main sports facility is the Mládí Stadium. It was founded in 1965.^[12]

The Flora Stadium is a sports facility in the south of the town. It was founded between 1924 and 1938.^[13] Until 1960, it had a motorcycle speedway track at the site.^[14]

Sights

Hošťálkovo Square with Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Since 1961, the historic core of Žatec has been protected as an urban monument reservation. It is a collection of important buildings and architectural styles from the Romanesque period to the Art Nouveau.^[3]

Since 2003, the area south of the historic centre has been protected as an urban monument zone. It is valuable mainly for its technical constructions related to hop growing.^[15]

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the most significant monuments. It was originally built in the Romanesque style and some of its Romanesque parts are still preserved. In 1724–1728, the Chapel of Saint John of Nepomuk was added. Around 1740, the west façade was reconstructed in the Baroque style.^[16]

The hop-growing and brewing tradition is widely presented by the town. There are Hop Museum and Brewing Museum. The Temple of Hops and Beer is a tourist complex with several attractions, including a lookout tower and a small astronomical clock. Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops (which includes the village of Trnovany within Žatec and the village of Stekník) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023.^[17]

In popular culture

Žatec was used as a filming location for many historical films and TV series, including^[18] Yentl (1983), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), Les Misérables (1998), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999), Oliver Twist (1999), Burning Bush (2013),^[19] The Zookeeper's Wife (2016),^[20] A Bag of Marbles (2017) and Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit (2019).^[21]

Notable people

• Johannes von Tepl (c. 1350 – c. 1415), writer
• Eugen Gura (1842–1906), German operatic baritone
• Gabriel Anton (1858–1933), Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist
• Adolf Strauss (1902–1944), pianist and composer
• Maria Treben (1907–1991), Austrian author and herbalist
• Karel Reiner (1910–1979), composer and pianist
• Peter Glaser (1923–2014), Czech-American scientist and aerospace engineer
• Zdeněk Svěrák (born 1936), actor, humorist and scriptwriter
• Miroslav Varga (born 1960), sports shooter, Olympic winner
• Jan Svěrák (born 1965), film director
• Jaromír Zmrhal (born 1993), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic

Žatec is twinned with:^[22]

• Krasnystaw, Poland
• Poperinge, Belgium
• Thum, Germany
• Žalec, Slovenia

References

1. "Population of Municipalities – 1 January 2024". Czech Statistical Office. 2024-05-17.
2. "Jméno Žatecký". Ptejte se knihovny (in Czech). National Library of the Czech Republic. 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
3. "Historie" (in Czech). Město Žatec. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
4. "Czech Town Divided over How to Commemorate 1945 Massacre" (in German). Der Spiegel. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
5. "Historický lexikon obcí České republiky 1869–2011" (in Czech). Czech Statistical Office. 2015-12-21.
6. "Population Census 2021: Population by sex". Public Database. Czech Statistical Office. 2021-03-27.
7. "Žatecký chmel" (in Czech). Žatecký chmel. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
8. "Historie" (in Czech). Žatec Brewery. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
9. "Dočesná" (in Czech). Žatecká Dočesná. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
10. "Přehled škol a školských zařízení: Žatec". Rejstřík škol a školských zařízení (in Czech). Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
11. "O klubu" (in Czech). FK Slavoj Žatec. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
12. Fárová, Jitka (2022-05-03). "V Žatci odhalili novou pamětní desku. Připomíná zakladatele stadionu Mládí Karla Heidenreicha" (in Czech). e-Žatecko. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
13. "Rudolf Ritter von Schönfeld" (in Czech). Museum Žatec. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
14. "Karel Průša nevydýchal velkou sportovní křivdu". SpeedwayA-Z.cz (in Czech). 2018-03-11. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
15. "Žatec – městská památková zóna" (in Czech). National Heritage Institute. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
16. "Chrám Nanebevzetí Panny Marie v Žatci" (in Czech). CzechTourism. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
17. "Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops". UNESCO. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
18. "Městem Žatec po stopách natáčení slavných filmů" (in Czech). CzechTourism. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
19. "Režisérka dokončila natáčení filmu o Janu Palachovi" (in Czech). Žatecký deník. 2012-05-29. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
20. "Úkrytem v zoo projdou čeští herci i pražské exteriéry, svou průměrnost ale neschová" (in Czech). Czech Radio. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
21. "Žatec: Czech town providing perfect location for major productions including JoJo Rabbit". Czech Radio. 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
22. "Partnerská města" (in Czech). Město Žatec. Retrieved 2023-10-17.

External links

• Official website
• Friends of Saaz/ Žatec (in German and English)