Jihlava

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Jihlava

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 49°24′01″N, 15°35′26″E

First documented

1233

Area

- town

78.85 km² (30.4 sq mi)

Elevation

525 m (1,722.4 ft)

Population (2006)

- town

50,676

Postal code

586 01

Website: www.jihlava.cz

Jihlava (IPA: [ˈjɪɦlava] (info); German Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. Jihlava is a centre of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava river (German Igel) on the ancient frontier between Moravia and Bohemia, and is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic.

Among the principal buildings are the churches of St. Jacob, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John the Baptist and St. Paul, the Municipal Hall and the catacombs, second largest in the Czech Republic. There is also a Jewish cemetery, containing some remarkable monuments including tombstone of the parents of Gustav Mahler.

An old Slavic settlement upon a ford merged with a later mining town, in the Middle Ages inhabited mostly by Germans (coming mostly from Bavaria and Saxony). According to legend, the silver mines were worked so early as 799. There is, however, no historical evidence for such statements. King Otakar I (1198–1230) established here a mining-office and a mint. At a very early date it enjoyed exceptional privileges, which were confirmed by King Wenceslaus I in the year 1250. The Municipal Hall contains a collection of municipal and mining laws dating as far back as 1389.

In the era of the Hussite Wars, Jihlava stayed a Catholic stronghold and managed to resist in sieges. Later at Jihlava, on July 5, 1436, the treaty was made with the Hussites, by which the emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A granite column near the town marks the spot where Ferdinand I, in 1527, swore fidelity to the Bohemian estates.

During the Thirty Years' War Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedes. In 1742 it fell into the hands of the Prussians, and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Wrede were defeated near the town. In 1860 it became the childhood home of Bohemian-Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, who retained his ties to the town until the death of both of his parents in 1889.

Before 1945, Jihlava was the center of the second largest German-speaking enclave in Czechoslovakia (after Schönhengstgau/Hřebečsko). A few weeks after the end of World War II, the German inhabitants of Jihlava were evicted; it is estimated that hundreds died on the ardous trek to Austria.