Adamov (; german: Adamsthal) is a town in

Blansko District Blansko District ( cs, okres Blansko) is one of seven districts (''okres'') within South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Blansko. List of municipalities Adamov - Bedřichov - Benešov - Blansko - Borotín - ...

in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

of 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 ...

. It has about 4,500 inhabitants. Historically it is known as an industrial town. The former industrial area of Stará Huť is protected by law as a monument reservation.

Geography

Adamov is located about north of

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 ...

. It lies in the

Drahany Highlands Drahany is a market town in Prostějov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants. Drahany lies approximately west of Prostějov, south-west of Olomouc, and east of Prague. Notable people *Wilhelm Kosch ...

, on the border of the

Moravian Karst The Moravian Karst ( cs, Moravský kras) is a karst landscape and protected landscape area to the north of Brno in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It encompasses a number of notable geological features, including roughly 1100 cav ...

Protected Landscape Area. The highest point is at above sea level. The town is situated in the valley of the river Svitava.

History

The first written mention of Adamov is from 1506, under its old name Hamry. It was a hamlet with several

hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre- industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The feat ...

s. From 1597, it was owned by the Liechtenstein family. In 1679, it was first called Adamov and since 1732, the name has been official. In 1849, the railway was built, which helped the development of local industry and population growth. In the second half of the 19th century, the local ironworks were transformed into an engineering company. Agricultural machinery and equipment for agriculture were produced here. During the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and in the 1930s, the company refocused on the

arms industry The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry classification, industry which manufacturing, manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commerce, commercial Private industry, industry involved ...

. Production expanded, the number of employees increased, and a new district with family houses was established in the town in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. The population grew rapidly and in 1964 Adamov became a town.

Demographics

Economy

From 1952, the local company was named ''Adamovské strojírny'' ("Adamov Engineering Works") or ADAST. In the 21st century, the company went bankrupt. Its subsidiary, Adast Systems, was founded in 1993. The successor of the company's name is an engineering company focused on the production of fuel dispensers and other technologies for pumping stations. This assortment has been produced in ADAST since the 1960s.

Sights

The Church of Saint Barbara was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1855–1857. It contains a valuable late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

altarpiece called the Zwettl Altar (''Světelský oltář''). It comes from the

Zwettl Abbey Zwettl Abbey (german: Stift Zwettl) is a Cistercian monastery located in Zwettl in Lower Austria, in the Diocese of St. Pölten. History Zwettl Abbey was founded in 1137 by Hadmar I of Kuenring, with Herrmann, a monk of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, as ...

and was created in 1516–1525. The wooden altar illustrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and comprises 59 carved figures.

Notable people

Johann Victor Krämer Johann Victor Krämer (23 August 1861 in Adamsthal – 6 May 1949 in Vienna) was an Austrian painter and photographer, working generally within the Orientalism, Orientalist genre. He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, and received man ...

(1861–1949), Austrian painter * Zdeněk Kroupa (1921–1999), opera singer * Jindřich Svoboda (born 1952), footballer

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Blansko District