Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem is divided into four boroughs, which are further divided into 22 administrative parts:

• Ústí nad Labem-město (parts Ústí nad Labem-centrum, Božtěšice, Bukov, Habrovice, Hostovice, Klíše, Předlice, Skorotice, Strážky, Vaňov and Všebořice);
• Ústí nad Labem-Neštěmice (parts Krásné Březno, Mojžíř and Neštěmice);
• Ústí nad Labem-Severní terasa (part Severní Terasa);
• Ústí nad Labem-Střekov (parts Brná, Církvice, Kojetice, Olešnice, Sebuzín, Střekov and Svádov).

The name of Ústí nad Labem is formed from the Old Czech ustie ("river mouth") and Labe (the Elbe River). It thus literally means "Mouth-upon-the-Elbe", in reference to its location at the Bílina's confluence with the Elbe.

The Czech name was Latinized as Usk super Albium and Germanized as Aussig or Außig. Before Czechoslovak independence amid the dissolution of Austria-Hungary following the World War I, the town was usually known in English as Aussig.[2][3]

Ústí nad Labem is located about 65 kilometres (40 mi) north of Prague and 45 km (28 mi) south of Dresden in Germany. It lies mostly in a hilly landscape of the Central Bohemian Uplands, but it also extends into the Most Basin in the northwest. The highest peak is Široký Vrch with an elevation of 659 m (2,162 ft). The city is situated at the confluence of the Elbe and Bílina river. Half of Lake Milada lies in the municipal territory. The southern part of the territory lies in the České Středohoří Protected Landscape Area.

For years, the charter of the Prague Benedictine monastery from 993 was considered to be the first written mention of Ústí nad Labem, but it has been proven to be a hoax.[4] The first verified written mention is in the charter of the chapter at the Church of St. Stephen in Litoměřice, dated to 1056 or 1057. In 1249, it was first mentioned with the title of royal town.[5]

In the second half of the 13th century, King Ottokar II of Bohemia invited German settlers into the country and granted them a German form of municipal incorporation, thereby founding the city proper.[3] In 1423, as King of Bohemia, Sigismund pledged the town to Elector Frederick I of Meissen, who occupied it with a Saxon garrison.[3] It was besieged by the Hussites in 1426: a German army of 70,000 was sent to its relief but the 25,000 besiegers defeated them amid great slaughter on 16 June; the next day, they stormed and razed the town.[3] It was left derelict for three years before rebuilding began in 1429.[3]

Ústí nad Labem was again burned down in 1583 and was sacked by the Swedes in 1639 amid the Thirty Years' War.[2] It also suffered grievously during the Seven Years' War and was near the 1813 Battle of Kulm between France and the alliance of Austria, Prussia, and Russia during the Napoleonic Wars.[3] As late as 1830, its population was only 1400.[3]

As part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, it was eventually incorporated into Austria and heavily industrialized over the 19th century. After the Compromise of 1867, it headed the Aussig District, one of Austrian Bohemia's 94 District Commissions (Bezirkshauptmannschaften).[6] In the 1870s, with only 11,000 people, it was a major producer of woolen goods, linen, paper, ships, and chemicals and carried on a large trade in grain, fruit, mineral water, lumber, and coal.[2] By 1900, large-scale immigration had boosted the population to nearly 40,000, mostly German,[3] and added glassworking and stone to its trades.[3] The local river port became the busiest in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire, surpassing even the seaport in Trieste.[7]

German annexation, October 1938

The factories of Aussig—as it was then known—were an early center of the National Socialism ("Nazi") movement. The German Workers' Party in Austria (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei in Österreich) was founded on 15 November 1903 and later gave rise to the Sudeten German Party and Austrian National Socialism. Their books continued to be printed in Ústí nad Labem even after the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. During the 1930 census, Ústí nad Labem was home to 43,793 residents: 32,878 considered German, 8,735 Czech or Slovak, 222 Jews, 16 Russians, and 11 Hungarians.[8] Ústí nad Labem was ceded to Nazi Germany with the rest of the Sudetenland in October 1938 under the terms of the Munich Agreement and placed under the administration of the Regierungsbezirk Aussig of Reichsgau Sudetenland. On New Year's Eve of that year, the Nazis burnt down the local synagogue; a meat factory was later raised in its place. The Jewish community in Ústí nad Labem was mostly exterminated over the course of World War II amid the Holocaust. In April 1945, the city was severely bombed by the Allies.

Shortly after the war ended, on 31 July 1945, an explosion of the local ammunition depot triggered a pogrom of the German population, known as the Ústí massacre, mostly at the hands of out-of-town paramilitary groups. Whilst the official investigation blamed the explosion on German saboteurs, more recent historical work points towards it being a communist provocation, intended to effect the subsequent expulsion of Germans. Between 80 and a thousand people died in the event, with estimates varying widely, but being generally much higher than the official body count.

Bomb damage, 1945

Under the terms of the Potsdam Conference and the Beneš decrees, the city was restored to Czechoslovakia and almost the totality of its previous population expelled as being German. In May 1948, the Communist government passed a new constitution declaring a people's republic. Communism continued until the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall set off a series of events which are now known as the Velvet Revolution. Today, Ústí nad Labem is a major industrial city of the Czech Republic with substantial chemical, metallurgical, textile, food, and machine tool industries.

The city is home of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. This public university has about 8,500 students and with about 900 employees, it is one of the most important employers in the region.[16]

The local ice hockey club HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi. The football club is FK Viagem Ústí nad Labem, which plays at the Municipal Stadium.

The city hosts the Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon, one of the World Athletics Label Road Races.

Střekov Castle

The Střekov Castle is one of the main sights of Ústí nad Labem, and one of the most visited tourist destinations in the whole region. It is located in a southern suburb of the city. The castle was built in 1316–1319. With a break in 1945–1992, it has been owned by the Lobkowicz family since 1563.[17]

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary with leaning tower

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1318 and is located in the city centre. It is well known for its leaning tower. The tower is 65 metres (213 ft) high and its deviation, caused by bombing at the end of World War II, is 201 centimetres (6.59 ft). It is the most leaning tower north of the Alps.[18]

A significant landmark is the hill Větruše with an observation tower and the Větruše Castle, which was built in 1847 as a hotel and restaurant serving cultural and social purposes.[19]

In Krásné Březno part is located the Ústí nad Labem Zoo, founded in 1908. A notable building is the Krásné Březno Castle. It is formed by the Old Castle, built before 1568, and by the New Castle, built in the early 17th century and baroque modified in the first half of the 18th century. The castle is surrounded by an English park. Nowadays the castle serves as the seat of the branch of National Heritage Institute of the Czech Republic.[20]

Ústí nad Labem is twinned with:[21]

• Chemnitz, Germany
• Halton, England, United Kingdom

Ústí nad Labem also cooperates with Dresden, Germany.[21]

• 
  Větruše Castle
• 
  Krásné Březno Castle
• 
  Municipal trolleybus
• 
  Panorama from a nearby observation tower
• 
  Holocaust memorial built in 2005

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ústí nad Labem.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ústí nad Labem.

• Official website
• Crystal Touch Museum
• Architecture in Ústí nad Labem