Krnov (; , or ''Krnów'') is a town in

Bruntál District Bruntál District () is a Okres, district in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Bruntál, but the most populated town is Krnov. Administrative division Bruntál District is divided into three Districts o ...

in the

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region () is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region (). The region is located in the north-eastern part of its historical region of Moravia and in most ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It has about 23,000 inhabitants.

Administrative division

Krnov consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Pod Bezručovým vrchem (14,445) *Pod Cvilínem (7,099) *Krásné Loučky (573)

Geography

Krnov is located about northwest of

Opava Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava (river), Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Sile ...

and northwest of

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

, in the historic region of

Czech Silesia Czech Silesia (; ) is the part of the historical region of Silesia now in the Czech Republic. While it currently has no formal boundaries, in a narrow geographic sense, it encompasses most or all of the territory of the Czech Republic within the ...

on the border with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers

and

Opavice The Opavice () is a river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Opava River. It flows through the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is long. Part of the river forms the Czech-Polish state border. Etymology The name Opavice is a diminutive of ...

. The northern part of the territory with the town proper lies in the Zlatohorská Highlands, the western and the southern part lie in the

Nízký Jeseník Nízký Jeseník (, ) is a flat highland and Geomorphological division of the Czech Republic, geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the east of the country in the Olomouc Region, Olomouc and Moravian-Silesian Region, M ...

range. A small part on the southeast extends into the

Opava Hilly Land Opava (; , ) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Opava (river), Opava River. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia and was a historical capital of Czech Sile ...

. The highest point is the hill Bednářský vrch at above sea level.

History

The first written mention of Krnov is from 1240. At the latest in 1269 and probably already in 1253, Krnov was a town. In the second half of the 13th century, town fortifications were built. In 1273, the

Minorites The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

came into the town and established a monastery. Krnov was a part of

Duchy of Troppau The Principality of Opava (; ) or Duchy of Troppau () was a historic territory split off from the Margraviate of Moravia before 1269 by King Ottokar II of Bohemia to provide for his natural son, Nicholas I. The Opava territory thus had not b ...

until 1377, when the

Duchy of Krnov The Duchy of Krnov (, , ) or Duchy of Jägerndorf () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, which in 1377 emerged from the Duchy of Troppau (Opava), itself a fief of the Bohemian Crown. Its capital was at Krnov in the present-day Czech Republic. H ...

separated and the town became its capital. Krnov prospered, guilds were established and textile crafts developed. In 1523, the Duchy of Krnov was acquired by the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

family. They had built a castle here and during their rule, the town achieved its greatest prosperity and population growth. The prosperity ended with the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. The battles caused the town to decline and subsequently stagnate. After the war, the duchy was acquired by the

House of Liechtenstein The House of Liechtenstein (), from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by hereditary right over the principality of Liechtenstein. Only Dynasty#Dynast, dynastic members of the family are eligible to inherit the thro ...

who began the re-Catholicization of the entire duchy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the town stagnated economically, but several Baroque monuments were created here. After the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

, Krnov became a border town. In 1779, a large fire destroyed almost the entire town. The development of the town was restored by the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Textile factories began to be established, and within a few decades Krnov more than doubled its population. The railway, which was opened in 1872, also helped the development. According to the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

census of 1910, the town had 16,681 inhabitants. The census had asked people for their native language; 15,390 (98.4%) were German-speaking and 247 (1.5%) were Czech-speaking.

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

were not allowed to declare

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, thus most of them declared German as their native language. The most populous religious groups were

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

with 15,290 (91.7%), followed by

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

with 885 (5.3%) and the

with 459 (2.8%). From 1938 to 1945 it was occupied by Germany and administered as a part of the

Reichsgau Sudetenland The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the ''Sudetenland'' territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Germans operated a ''

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

'' prison and four

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in the town. After the war, the German population was expelled, in accordance to the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. In 1948, refugees from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

fleeing as a result of the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

came into Czechoslovakia, and in Krnov and its surroundings they formed a significant community. They successfully assimilated, and although most of them returned to their homeland after 1975, several hundred of them still remain. In 2024, Krnov was damaged by the Central European floods.

Demographics

Economy

Krnov is known for the production of cola-based drink

Kofola Kofola () is a carbonated soft drink produced by the eponymous Czechoslovak company, which is headquartered in Krnov, Czech Republic. It is the principal rival of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The company is one of the l ...

by the eponymous company, which is the largest industrial employer based in the town. One of the largest local companies was

Rieger–Kloss Rieger–Kloss is a company specializing in the manufacturing of pipe organ. Its headquarters as well as the production facilities are located in Krnov, Czech Republic. History Rieger–Kloss date their establishment to 1873, by the Rieger b ...

, which manufactured

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

s. It was founded in 1873 and production has continued to the present, but after financial problems, it went into insolvency in 2018 and production was stopped.

Transport

Krnov is located on the

–

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

and Krnov–Głuchołazy railway lines. The town is served by has railway stations, ''Krnov'' and ''Cvilín''. The road border crossings ''Krnov-Horní Předměstí /

Ciermięcice Ciermięcice (formerly ''Tirmanz'') is a village located in Poland, in the Opole Voivodeship, Głubczyce County and Gmina Głubczyce Gmina Głubczyce is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Głubczyce County, Opole Voivodeship, in s ...

'', ''Krnov / Pietrowice'', and ''Chomýž / Chomiąża'' are located in the municipal territory.

Sights

The landmark of the town square is the Neorenaissance town hall. It was built in 1901–1903 on the site of an old town hall from the 16th century. It has a richly decorated high tower, which is a copy of the

Währing Währing () is the 18th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna and lies in northwestern Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods. It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf, Neus ...

town hall tower. The town hall was designed by

Leopold Bauer Leopold Bauer (1 September 1872 – 7 October 1938) was an Austrian-Silesian architect. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Work The Petr Bezruč City House of Culture in Opava Opa ...

, native of Krnov. The second urban landmark is the town savings bank, connected with the town hall. The Art Nouveau-Baroque building with a richly structured façade was built in 1906–1907. The Krnov Synagogue is the only synagogue in the region which survived to this day in its original form. The interior is the

Moorish Revival style Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...

. Today it serves as an exhibition and concert hall. The Church of Saint Martin in the historic centre was first documented in 1281. The wooden church was replaced by the current stone one at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The second tower was added in the 16th century. The high towers were part of the town's defense system. One of the towers is open to the public as a lookout tower. The Church of Saint Benedict consists of a rotunda from the 13th century and a church without a tower. The interior is decorated with valuable frescoes from the period between the 13th and 15th centuries. The Baroque complex of the

Minorite The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

monastery with the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built after 1779, when the original Gothic buildings were destroyed by a fire. The monastery was abolished in 1950 and restored in 1989. Krnov Castle was built in 1531–1535. Today it serves commercial purposes and as an administrative seat, only the courtyard is freely accessible. An important technical monument is the former spinning mill and warehouse of the Alois Larisch factory with a sample workshop, including a set of machinery. It is a Neoclassical building from 1922, protected as a national cultural monument.

Cvilín

Cvilín is hill known as a pilgrimage site with the Church of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

. The church was built in 1722–1727 and replaced the wooden chapel, which did not have enough capacity for the number of believers participating in the pilgrimage. It is one of the most important Baroque monuments in the region. Since 2018, it has been protected as a national cultural monument. On the hill is also a high observation tower, constructed in 1902–1903. It is a stone romantic building topped by a lookout with a

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

. In the second part of the Cvilín hill is the ruin of the Cvilín Castle. It was built before 1253 and destroyed during the Thirty Years' War.

Notable people

Carol Benesch Carol Benesch (January 9, 1822, Jägerndorf, Austro-Hungarian Empire, today Krnov, Czech RepublicOctober 30, 1896, Bucharest, Romania) was a Silesian architect of Historicism and Eclecticism orientation established in the Kingdom of Romania. He ...

(1822–1896), architect *

Charles Louis Fleischmann Charles Louis Fleischmann (November 3, 1835 – December 10, 1897) was a Jewish Hungarian-American manufacturer of yeast who founded Fleischmann Yeast Company. In the late 1860s, he and his brother Maximilian created America’s first commercia ...

(1835–1897), Austrian inventor and distiller *

(1872–1938), Austrian architect *

Grete Berger Grete Berger (born Margarethe Berg; 11 February 1883 – 23 May 1944) was an Austrian-German stage and film actress whose career came to an end following the rise of the Nazi Party in 1933. Berger was murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp in ...

(1883–1944), Austrian-German actress *

Robert Hohlbaum Robert Hohlbaum (28 August 1886 – 4 February 1955) was an Austrian-German librarian, writer, and playwright. He was born as a son of an industrialist Alois Hohlbaum in what is now Krnov in the Czech Republic, then part of the Austro-Hungarian ...

(1886–1955), Austrian-German writer and playwright *

Liesl Herbst Liesl Herbst (8 November 1903 – 25 February 1990) was an Austrian tennis player. Biography Liesl Herbst (née Westreich) was born on 8 November 1903 in the town of Jägerndorf (now called Krnov) in Silesia where her family owned the Gessler di ...

(1903–1990), Austrian tennis player * Norbert Riedel (1912–1963), Austrian engineer and entrepreneur *

Hanns Cibulka Hanns Cibulka (20 September 1920, in Jägerndorf, Czechoslovakia – 20 June 2004, in Gotha, Germany) was a German poet and diarist A diary is a writing, written or audiovisual Memorabilia, memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by ...

(1920–2004), German poet *

Edith Ballantyne Edith Ballantyne (née Müller; 10 December 1922 – 25 March 2025) was a Czech-born Canadian activist who was a prominent member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) since 1969. At that time, she became the executiv ...

(born 1922), Canadian activist *

Jiří Georg Dokoupil Jiří "Georg" Dokoupil (born 3 June 1954) is a Czech-German painter and graphic artist. He was a founding member of the German artist group ''Mülheimer Freiheit'' and the Junge Wilde Art movement, which arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ...

(born 1954), Czech-German painter and graphic artist *

Zdeňka Šilhavá Zdeňka Šilhavá (born Kusá, later known as Bartoňová-Šilhavá; 15 June 1954 in Krnov) is a Czech retired female track and field athlete who represented Czechoslovakia. She set the world record in the women's discus throw on 26 August 1984 ...

(born 1954), discus thrower * Leon Koudelak (born 1961), classical guitarist *

Jaroslav Sakala Jaroslav Sakala (; born 14 July 1969) is a former ski jumper who competed for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. Career He entered his first World Cup competition on 15 January 1989 in Harrachov. His first big success was at the 1992 Winter ...

(born 1969), ski jumper *

Radek Bonk Radek Bonk (born 9 January 1976) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who most recently played for Oceláři Třinec of the Czech Extraliga. Playing career Bonk was born in Czechoslovakia and began his hockey career playing for Sle ...

(born 1976), ice hockey player *

Jan Štefela Jan Štefela (born 20 April 2001) is a Czech high jumper. He won the high jump at the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships, 2021 European Under-23 Championships and placed fifth at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's high ...

(born 2001), high jumper

Twin towns – sister cities

Krnov is twinned with: *

Głubczyce Głubczyce ( or sparsely ''Glubčice'', or ''Gubczycy'', ) is a town in Opole Voivodeship in south-western Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Głubczyce County and Gmina Głubczyce. Geography Głu ...

, Poland *

Karben Karben is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hessen, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the river Nidda in the Rhein-Main-Gebiet (Rhine-Main area), approximately north of Frankfurt. Division of the town Karben as a unified town was founded i ...

, Germany *

Lykovrysi-Pefki Lykovrysi-Pefki () is a municipality in the North Athens regional unit, Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Pefki. Municipality The municipality Lykovrysi-Pefki was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger ...

, Greece *

Mińsk Mazowiecki Mińsk Mazowiecki (, ) is a town in eastern Poland with 40,999 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship and is a part of the Warsaw metropolitan area. It is the capital of Mińsk County. Located 20 kilometers from the city li ...

, Poland *

Nadvirna Nadvirna (, ; ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Nadvirna Raion. Nadvirna hosts the administration of Nadvirna urban hromada, one of the hromadas ...

, Ukraine *

Prudnik Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...

, Poland *

Rajec Rajec (; ) is a town in the Žilina District, Žilina Region in northern Slovakia. Etymology Rajec, Rajčianka, Rajčanka are derived from Proto-Slavic appellative ''*rajь'' – a wet, muddy place (modern Slovak ''raj'' – a paradise, "a pl ...

, Slovakia *

Saint-Égrève Saint-Égrève (; ) is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration). Population Twin towns - sister cities Saint-Égrève is twinned with: * Karben, Germany, since 1974 * ...

, France *

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the ol ...

, Lithuania

Gallery

Krnov, zámek, nádvoří (1).JPG, Krnov Castle Čelní fasády špitálu a kostela sv.Ducha v Krnově.JPG, Church of the Holy Spirit Cvilín - obserwation tower.jpg, Cvilín observation tower Krnov-Cvilin-Kirche-1.jpg, Church of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows on Cvilín Krnov-Cvilin-Kreuzweg-2.jpg, Stations of the Cross on Cvilín Krnov, Střelecký dům.JPG, Shooting house Krnov švédská zeď.jpg, Swedish wall

References

External links

*
Tourist information centreSudeten German homeland district of Jägerndorf

Krnov Friends' Club
{{authority control Cities in Silesia Populated places in Bruntál District Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Czech Republic–Poland border crossings