Holašovice (, german: Hollschowitz or ''Holschowitz'') is a small historic village located in the south 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 ...

, 16 kilometres west of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

. Village belongs to the municipality Jankov. To the south lies the protected landscape area of Blanský Forest. The village was deserted after the Second World War, allowing its medieval plan and vernacular buildings in the South Bohemian Folk or Rural Baroque style to remain intact. It was restored and repopulated from 1990, and it was designated as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1998 because of its exceptional preservation of a traditional Baroque-era village.

History

Holašovice is first mentioned in 1263. In 1292, King Wenceslaus II gave the village and several others to the Cistercian monastery of

Vyšší Brod Vyšší Brod (; german: Hohenfurth) is a town in Český Krumlov District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. It is the southernmost municipality in the Czech Republic. Vyšší Brod Monastery, an i ...

. It remained the property of the monastery until 1848. Between 1520 and 1525, Holašovice was nearly wiped out by the bubonic plague. Only two of its inhabitants survived. A column erected over the plague grave at the north end of the village commemorates this event. The monastery gradually repopulated the village with settlers from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. By 1530, the population had risen to 17, according to the monastery's records, and it had become a mainly

German-speaking German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

enclave within the

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech R ...

area. By 1900, there were 163 inhabitants of German ethnic origin and 1 of Czech ethnic origin. After the displacement of German residents at the end of the Second World War, many farms in the village were deserted and fell into disrepair. Holašovice became a desolate and abandoned place under the Czech post-war Communist regime. From 1990, the village was lavishly restored and inhabited once more. It now has a population of around 140.

Buildings and architecture

Holašovice is a typical Bohemian village for the Hlubocká Blata area around České Budějovice. It consists of 23 brick farmsteads containing 120 buildings, with a fish pond, a forge, and chapel. The farms were constructed in the South Bohemian Folk Baroque style, in "U" shapes with farmyard in the middle and with their stucco gable ends facing a central broad village green. The buildings date from the 18th to 20th century, with most of them built in the second half of the 19th century. The chapel of St.

John of Nepomuk John of Nepomuk (or John Nepomucene) ( cs, Jan Nepomucký; german: Johannes Nepomuk; la, Ioannes Nepomucenus) ( 1345 – 20 March 1393) was the saint of Bohemia (Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus ...

in the village green was built in 1755.

Gallery

File:Holašovice Historic Village-112776.jpg, Village with door File:Holašovice Historic Village-112757.jpg, Village with stream File:Holašovice Historic Village-112759.jpg, Village with tree File:Holašovice Historic Village-112761.jpg, View of bell steeple File:Holašovice Historic Village-112755.jpg, Village with facades

References

External links

Pruvodce.comEntry on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Virtual show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holasovice World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic Villages in České Budějovice District