Lovosice (; german: Lobositz) is a town in Litoměřice District in the

Ústí nad Labem Region Ústí nad Labem Region or Ústecký Region ( cs, Ústecký kraj, , ), is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the north-western part of the historical land of Bohemia, and named after the capital, Ústí nad La ...

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 8,600 inhabitants. It is an industrial town.

Geography

Lovosice is located about southwest of

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; german: Leitmeritz) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat ...

and south of

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...

. It lies mostly in the

Lower Eger Table Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

. A small northwestern part of the municipal territory extends into the Central Bohemian Uplands and includes the highest point of Lovosice, which is a

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional gr ...

at the foot of the Lovoš mountain at . The town is situated on the left bank of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

River, which forms the northern municipal border.

History

The region of Lovosice was inhabited already in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. Some evidence indicates that the first Czechs lived right here. The first mention of Lovosice is from 1143. Duke Vladislaus II gave this small village to the Strahov monastery. Emperor

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Ho ...

promoted the village to a town in 1600. Lovosice was 1756 the site of a major battle between

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

and the

Austrian empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

, at the Battle of Lobositz. In 1850, the railroad was built, which supported the industrialization of the town and accelerated development. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, due to the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

, Lovosice fell within a German occupation zone, commonly called

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

. Only 600 Czechs stayed in the town at that time. After the war, the German population was expelled as a result of the

Beneš decrees The Beneš decrees, sk, Dekréty prezidenta republiky) and the Constitutional Decrees of the President of the Republic ( cz, Ústavní dekrety presidenta republiky, sk, Ústavné dekréty prezidenta republiky) were a series of laws drafted by t ...

Demographics

Economy

Lovosice is known as an industrial town with a long tradition of chemical and food-processing industries.

Transport

Due to its strategic location, Lovosice is a significant transport junction. Besides a cargo port on the Elbe River, the town has a great connection to

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 ...

and Germany via the D8 motorway and high speed railway

–

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Sights

The former town hall is one of the most valuable buildings in the town. It was built in the Art Nouveau style in 1906–1907. Today it serves as a library and tourist information office. The Renaissance castle in Lovosice was built in the second half of the 16th century. After a fire in 1809, it was Baroquely modified and served as an archive and office. Today the building houses a secondary

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the task ...

. The Baroque Church of Saint Wenceslaus was built in 1733–1748 on a place of former wooden church. It contains valuable frescoes and an altarpiece Saint Wenceslaus.

Notable people

* Karl von Czyhlarz (1833–1914), Bohemian-Austrian jurist and politician * Alfons Dopsch (1868–1953), Austrian historian

Twin towns – sister cities

Lovosice is twinned with: * Coswig, Germany

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Litoměřice District Populated riverside places in the Czech Republic Populated places on the Elbe