Bohumín

Bohumín is made up of town parts and villages of Nový Bohumín, Pudlov, Skřečoň, Starý Bohumín, Šunychl, Vrbice and Záblatí.

Bohumín is located about 5 km (3 mi) north of Ostrava on the border with Poland, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It lies in the Ostrava Basin.

The confluence of the Oder and Olza rivers is situated north of the town. The Oder forms the western border of the municipal territory and the Olza forms the northern border with Poland.

The area is rich in water bodies. The artificial lakes Velké Kališovo and Malé Kališovo with a total area of 50 ha (120 acres) and Vrbické Lake were created by flooding gravel quarries. They are used for recreational purposes.[2] There is also the Záblatský fish pond in the southern part of the territory.

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

The first written mention of Bohumín (as Bogun) is in a stylistic exercise of Queen Kunigunda of Halych from 1256–1262. It was described as a large village. It was located on a trade route from Prague to Kraków.[3]

King Louis II granted the town and château of Bohumín to George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1523. The town began to develop during rule by the House of Hohenzollern, although further development of Bohumín was halted by frequent epidemics of bubonic plague and floodings of the Olza. It was officially known in German as Oderberg, and by the end of the 16th century the majority of citizens followed Protestantism. The successor after the Hohenzollerns in 1620 was Lazar Henckel, whose family of bankers and entrepreneurs hailed from Habsburg-ruled Hungary.

After defeating Maria Theresa of Austria during the Silesian Wars, King Frederick II of Prussia annexed most of Silesia, although Bohumín remained in Austrian Silesia within the Kingdom of Bohemia.

After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The town became a seat of a legal district at first in Friedek and since 1868 in the Freistadt political district.

In 1872, the important Košice–Bohumín Railway was opened in Šunychl, which later outgrew Bohumín, and Pudlov; this increased the town's importance.[3]

According to the censuses conducted in 1880–1910 the population of the town grew from 1,839 in 1880 to 5,810 in 1910. In 1880 and 1890 the majority were Polish-speakers (58.1% in 1880 and 64.8% in 1890), followed by German-speakers (34.8% in 1880 and 27.6% in 1890) and Czech-speakers (6.9% in 1880 and 7.6% in 1890). In 1900 and 1910 the majority were German-speakers (52.8% in 1900, 54.5% in 1910), followed by Polish-speakers (41.7% in 1900 and 38.2% in 1910) and Czech-speakers (5.3% in 1900 and 7.3% in 1910). In terms of religion, in 1910 the majority were Roman Catholics (91.7%), followed by Protestants (206 or 3.5%), Jews (129 or 2.2%) and others (141 or 2.6%).[4]

After the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the town became part of Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, Bohumín and the Trans-Olza region were annexed by Poland in October 1938. The town was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. The Germans operated several forced labour camps in the town, including a Polenlager camp solely for Poles,[5] a camp solely for Jews,[6] and the E728 subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp in Nový Bohumín.[7] On 1 May 1945 Bohumín was taken by Soviet troops of the 1st Guards Army. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia and the remaining German population was expelled westward in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement.

The majority of citizens are Czech; many citizens have Polish ancestry, although the Polish minority in Bohumín was only 1.6% as of census 2021.[8] Before World War II, the town was inhabited by a large German community. Nowadays the town is known as having one of the largest communities of Romani people in the Czech Republic.

Main train station

Bohumín is one of the most important railway junctions in the Czech Republic. Several major international lines pass through the town and Bohumín has the direct connection with many European capitals. Some of the lines were built by the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway company. The lines going through Bohumín includes: Bohumín–Olomouc–Prague, Bohumín–Brno, Bohumín–Žilina–Vrútky, Bohumín–Košice, Bohumín–Bratislava–Budapest, Bohumín–Vienna–Graz, Bohumín–Warsaw–Gdańsk–Gdynia, Bohumín–Kraków–Przemyśl, and Bohumín–Wrocław–Berlin. There is also an important depot of České dráhy in Bohumín.

LEO Express also operates a bus line to Polish cities Katowice and Kraków.

There are the Bohumín / Chałupki railway border crossing and Bohumín / Nowe Chałupki road border crossing to Poland.

The D1 motorway passes through the town.

Church of the Sacred Heart

The oldest monument of Bohumín is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Old Bohumín. The church was built in the Gothic style in the 14th century on the site of an old chapel. In the second half of the 17th century, the church was extended by two chapels. After a fire in 1850, Baroque modifications were made. Its current form is the result of reconstruction in 1910–1911.[11] Next to the church is a tomb of the Henckel family, former owners of Bohumín.[12]

The most important landmark of Nový Bohumín is the Catholic Church of Sacred Heart. This neo-Gothic church was built in 1892–1894. Its appearance is characterized by red unplastered bricks.[13] The Lutheran church in Nový Bohumín was built in 1900–1901. It was also built in the neo-Gothic style and is also protected as a cultural monument.[14]

A notable building in Nový Bohumín is the town hall. It was completed in 1898 and a square was established in front of the building in the same year. In 1953, the building was turned into a medical centre. Since 2005, part of the municipal office has again been located there.[15]

The Church of Saint Catherine in Vrbice was built in 1910–1913. It is a large historicist church with a tall prismatic tower.[16]

The Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Skřečoň is also a historicist building, built in 1912–1924. Its part is a chapel, which probably dates from the end of the 19th century.[17]

• Svatopluk Havelka (1925–2009), composer
• Tomáš Pospíchal (1936–2003), footballer
• Svatopluk Němeček (born 1972), politician
• Tereza Bebarová (born 1975), actress

Bohumín is twinned with:

• Gorzyce, Poland[18]
• Prudnik, Poland[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bohumín.

• Official website