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Obec (plural: ''obce'') is the Czech and Slovak word for a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
(in the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, in
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
and abroad). The literal meaning of the word is " commune" or "
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...
". It is the smallest administrative unit that is governed by elected representatives. Cities and towns are also municipalities.


Definition

Legal definition (according to the Czech code of law with similar definition in the Slovak code of law) is: ''"The municipality is a basic territorial self-governing community of citizens; it forms a territorial unit, which is defined by the boundary of the municipality."'' Every municipality is composed of one or more cadastral areas. Every municipality is composed of one or more administrative parts, usually called town parts or villages. A municipality can have its own flag and coat of arms.


Czech Republic

Almost whole area of the republic is divided into municipalities, with the only exception being
military training areas A proving ground (US) is an installation or reservation in which technology such as weapons, military tactics and automobile prototypes are experimented with or tested. Proving grounds can be operated by government bodies or civilian industries. ...
. The smaller municipalities consist only of one village. A municipality has mostly the same name as the settlement which is the most populated and where is the municipal office. However there are several exceptions, for example municipalities created by merger of formerly separate municipalities (like Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav or Orlické Podhůří). A municipality can obtain the title of a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
( cs, statutární město),
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...
( cs, město) or
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
( cz, městys). While all of them are municipalities from the point of view of the law, they are usually referred by its title and not as municipalities, and municipalities without status are called just municipalities. Statutory cities can have self-governing subdivisions, so-called city parts or city districts, which have standing partly similar to municipalities. Town and market town are above all ceremonious honorary degrees, referring to population, history and regional significance of a municipality. History and regional significance are reasons, why a small municipality can have the status of a town or market town, and why more populated municipalities don't have any status. A special type of municipality is the capital
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, which has simultaneously the status of a municipality and the status of a region and which is treated by special law. The law makes it possible to restitute by request a status of town for every municipality which lost it (during communist period). A municipality, which want to acquire status of town and never was a town before, must have population over 3,000 and the improvement in status is subject of assessment by chairman of the parliament. For market town status, population is not a condition. The newest Czech town is Miličín, which obtained the status in 2022. Some of municipalities have extended competencies of delegated state administration for the territory of the municipality and for surrounding municipalities.


Statistics

The smallest municipalities by area are Závist (0.42 km2) and Strukov (0.53 km2). The biggest are the cities of
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
(496.21 km2),
Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
(230.18 km2) and
Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four riv ...
(214.23 km2), and the town of
Ralsko Ralsko (german: Roll) is a town in Česká Lípa District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. It comprises area of the former military training area with Hradčany Air Base. Because of the former military ...
(170.23 km2, including a former military area, with only about 2,000 inhabitants).


List of municipalities

* List of municipalities in the Czech Republic: A – I * List of municipalities in the Czech Republic: J – M * List of municipalities in the Czech Republic: N – Ř * List of municipalities in the Czech Republic: S – Ž


Slovakia

As of 2020, there are 2,890 municipalities in Slovakia, with 141 of them being a city or a town. After meeting certain conditions such as population over 5,000, being well accessible, having cultural or economical significance and having an urban style of settlement an obec can be declared a town ("mesto").


References


External links


List of municipalities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia


See also

* '' okres'' * '' opština'' *
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
*
List of cities in the Czech Republic This is a list of municipalities ''(obce)'' of the Czech Republic which have status of a city, town or market town granted by law. As of 2022, there are 27 cities, 582 towns and 231 market towns in the Czech Republic. The population is shown in ...
* List of municipalities in Slovakia {{Interwiki conflict Subdivisions of the Czech Republic Subdivisions of Slovakia Geography of the Czech Republic Geography of Slovakia . Populated places in the Czech Republic Populated places in Slovakia Czech words and phrases Slovak words and phrases LAU statistical regions of the European Union