Lednice (; ) is a municipality and village in

Břeclav District Břeclav District () is a district in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Břeclav. Administrative division Břeclav District is divided into three administrative districts of municipalities with extended c ...

in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region (; , ; ), or just South Moravia, is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia. The region's capital is Brno, th ...

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 2,200 inhabitants. It is known as part of

Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape The Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape (also Lednice–Valtice Area or Lednice–Valtice Complex, ) is a cultural-natural landscape complex of in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It comprises the municipalities of Lednice, Valt ...

, a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Administrative division

Lednice consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Lednice (1,858) *Nejdek (213)

Geography

Lednice is located about northwest of

Břeclav Břeclav (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. Located at the Czech-Austrian state border and near the Czech–Slovak state border, it is an important railway hub. Administrative divis ...

and south of

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. It lies in a flat landscape in the

Lower Morava Valley The Lower Morava Valley (; ; ) is a geomorphological formation (special type of valley) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is formed by the depression in the Western Carpathians (Ždánice Forest, Kyjov Hills and Pálava Protected Landscap ...

. The

Thaya The Thaya (, ) is a river in the Czech Republic and Austria, a right tributary of the Morava (river), Morava River. It flows through the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic and through Lower Austria in Austria. It is formed by the conflue ...

River flows through the northern part of the municipal territory. Stará Dyje and Zámecká Dyje, which are canals of the Thaya, also flow through the territory. There are several large fishponds. Their territory, together with the immediate surroundings, is protected as the Lednické rybníky National Nature Reserve.

History

The first written mention of Lednice is from 1222 under its Latin name ''Izgruobi'', as a property of the Weisen/Orphanus family. In the mid-13th century, it was passed into the hands of 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 ...

and its fortunes had been tied inseparably to the members of this noble family.

Demographics

Economy

Lednice is known for

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

and wine-making. The municipality lies in the

Mikulovská wine Mikulovská is one of four Czech wine regions within southern Moravia, Czech Republic. The Mikulovská wine region, containing 30 wine villages, is famed for producing white wines grown in the limestone soils, particularly in and around the area o ...

subregion.

Transport

Lednice is the terminus of the short Břeclav–Lednice railway line that operates only on weekends from April to October. The line is operated with old rolling stock - steam engine pulled trains or diesel cars.

Sights

In 1996, the

was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

as ''"an exceptional example of the designed landscape that evolved in the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

and afterwards under the care of a single family."'' Lednice contains a palace and the second largest castle park in the country, which covers . Lednice Castle was originally a Renaissance villa. In the 17th century it became a summer residence of the ruling Princes of Liechtenstein. The estate house, designed and furbished by baroque architects

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, engraver, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His inf ...

, Domenico Martinelli, and Anton Johan Ospel, proclaimed rural luxury on the grandest scale. In 1846–1858, it was extensively rebuilt in the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style under the supervision of Georg Wingelmüller. The surrounding park is laid out in an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

style and contains a range of Romantic

follies ''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot centers on a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Follies ...

by Joseph Hardtmuth, including the solitary high minaret from 1802, which is the tallest outside the Muslim world.

Notable people

* Princess Aloysia of Liechtenstein (1838–1920), Catholic worker *

Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein Johann II (Johann Maria Franz Placidus; 5 October 1840 – 11 February 1929), nicknamed the Good (), was Prince of Liechtenstein from 12 November 1858 until his death in 1929. His reign of 70 years and 91 days is the third-longest of any sovere ...

(1840–1929), monarch

References

External links

*
World Heritage Site
{{authority control Villages in Břeclav District Territorial disputes of Czechoslovakia House of Liechtenstein