Jindřichův Hradec

The first written mention of the town is in 1220. Before that, it was probably a Slavic settlement. At the end of the 12th century more people arrived. At the beginning of the 13th century a Gothic castle was built (it was gradually rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau in the 16th century). In the census following the Thirty Years' War, Jindřichův Hradec was the second largest city in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Between 1831 and 1935 it was the first city in the area to get electricity for lighting, in 1888 the water mill was converted to electricity.

The city castle and palace is the third largest in the country after those in Prague and Český Krumlov. It covers 3 hectares (7.4 acres) and contains 320 rooms. More than 10,000 works of art and a similar number of books may be found there.

The district museum, which is in a Renaissance building that was once the Jesuit seminary appeared in the city in 1882 and is one of the oldest regional museums in Bohemia. The most well-known item in the museum is the Kryza, the largest mechanical Christmas manger scene in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

• Preserved Jewish Cemetery (Dates back from 15th century)
• The Church of Ascension
• The Chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene
• The Church of Saint John the Baptist with the nearby building that once housed minorite monks and was later an infirmary.
• The Church of the Most Holy Trinity
• The Church of Saint Catherine
• The Church of Saint James
• The Church of Saint Wenceslas

Houses in the marketplace (Friendensplatz) with the pristine Gothic city hall

Jindřichův Hradec's neighbourhood includes sites such as Červená Lhota Castle, the historical town of Třeboň and Stráž nad Nežárkou. The UNESCO World Heritage town of Telč lies 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the east.

von Neuhaus

• Lords of Neuhaus (German: Herren von Neuhaus, Herren von Hradec, Czech: Páni z Hradce, Latin: de Novo Domo)
• Adam (Václav) Michna z Otradovic (1600–1676), an organist, composer, singer and poet
• (Jan) Antonín Reichenauer (German: Johann Anton Reichenauer; ca. 1694, Prague–1730), a Baroque composer
• Florian Baucke (1719–1779), Silesian Jesuit missionary, lived and died here
• Emanuel Miřiovský (1846–1914), writer, literary critic and translator
• Hanuš Schwaiger (1852–1912), painter
• Antonín Rezek (1853–1909), historian, Austrian Minister of the Czech Government Affairs
• Eduard Lederer (1859–1944), writer, lawyer, journalist
• Stanislaus von Prowazek (1875–1915), zoologist and parasitologist
• Kurt Adler (1907–1977), Jewish conductor, chorus master, and pianist; the Chorus Master and Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, United States and Author (forced to flee under Nazism)
• František Daniel Merth (1915–1995), a Catholic priest and poet
• Karel Berman (1919–1995), Jewish opera singer and composer
• Vladimír Špidla (born 1951), politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
• Renáta Tomanová (born 1954), tennis player
• Pavel Kroupa (born 1963), professor of astrophysics
• Václav Chalupa (born 1967), rower
• Karel Poborský (born 1972), footballer
• Leoš Friedl (born 1977), tennis player
• Petr Fical (born 1977), Czechoslovak and German ice hockey player
• Pavel David (born 1978), footballer
• Aleš Kotalík (born 1978), ice hockey player
• Jan Marek (1979–2011), ice hockey player
• Zbyněk Michálek (born 1982), ice hockey player
• Milan Michálek (born 1984), ice hockey player

Jindřichův Hradec is twinned with:[2]

• Dunajská Streda, Slovakia
• Krasnoufimsk, Russia
• Neckargemünd, Germany
• Zwettl, Austria

• Asteroid 21873 Jindřichůvhradec is named in honour of city
• Gymnasium, today known as Gymnázium Vitězslava Nováka was founded in 1595, making it one of the oldest non-university schools in Central Europe

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jindřichův Hradec.

• Municipal website (cs, de, en)
• Jindrichuv Hradec - travel guide (basic facts, history, sights, one-day trips)