Milovice (; ) is a town in

Nymburk District Nymburk District () is a Okres, district in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Nymburk. Administrative division Nymburk District is divided into three Districts of the Czech Republic#Municipalities with e ...

in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

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 14,000 inhabitants. In the 20th century, the history of the town was influenced by the presence of a military base. In the 21st century, Milovice is one of the fastest growing towns in the Czech Republic with one of the youngest populations.

Administrative division

Milovice consists of four municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Milovice (3,004) *Benátecká Vrutice (335) *Boží Dar (292) *Mladá (9,082)

Geography

Milovice is located about northwest of

Nymburk Nymburk (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the Elbe River. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Mo ...

and northeast of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The western part of the municipal territory lies in the

Jizera Table The Jizera Table () is a plateau and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located mostly in the Central Bohemian Region, northeast of Prague. Geomorphology The Jizera Table is a mesoregion of the Central Bohemian Table wit ...

, the eastern part lies in the

Central Elbe Table The Central Elbe Table () is a plateau and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located mostly in the Central Bohemian Region, but due to its size, it also extends to other regions. The axis of the plateau is the Elbe River, ...

. The Mlynařice stream, a tributary of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

, flows through the territory. Milovice is known for the

Milovice Nature Reserve Milovice Nature Reserve () is a nature reserve next to the towns of Milovice and Benátky nad Jizerou in Nymburk District, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. Established in 2015, the area is administered by the Česká krajina o.p.s. organiz ...

. In January 2015, a group of 14

Exmoor ponies The Exmoor Pony is a British breed of pony or small horse. It is one of the mountain and moorland pony breeds native to the British Isles, and so falls within the larger Celtic group of European ponies. It originates on, and is named for, the E ...

was moved from

Exmoor National Park Exmoor () is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simons ...

to Milovice Nature Reserve in an effort to save the

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

of the location through

conservation grazing Conservation grazing or targeted grazing is the use of semi- feral or domesticated grazing livestock to maintain and increase the biodiversity of natural or semi-natural grasslands, heathlands, wood pasture, wetlands and many other habitats.

. Other animals in the reserve include aurochs and European bisons.

History

The first written mention of Milovice is from 1396. Since the 1990s, the town Milovice belongs to the fastest growing suburban areas in the Czech Republic mainly thanks to cheap accommodation left by the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

Military base

The first military base was founded in Mladá by the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

in 1904. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, there was a prisoner camp of Russian and Italian soldiers, which has a military cemetery in town. After the War, the newly founded

Czechoslovak Army The Czechoslovak Army (Czech and Slovak: ''Československá armáda'') was the name of the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1918 following Czechoslovakia's declaration of independence from Austria-Hungary. History In t ...

started to use the camp as a main military base in Bohemia. During the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, the base served as a centre for German film propaganda, where fake footage from the Eastern Front was shot. In 1968 the base came under Soviet control, played an important role during the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

, and became the headquarters for the

Central Group of Forces The Central Group of Forces (Russian: Центральная группа войск) was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955 and tr ...

afterwards. They built a massive airport and accommodation for about 100,000 Soviet soldiers and their relatives. The last of the troops left in 1991 and the base was abandoned in 1995. In August 1996, the revitalization of the former military training area began.

Demographics

As of 2025, with an average age of 35.6 years, the town has one of the youngest populations in the country, and the youngest in category of the cities and towns with over 10,000 inhabitants.

Transport

Milovice is the terminus of a railway line heading from Prague via

Lysá nad Labem Lysá nad Labem (; ) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the Elbe River. The town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument ( ...

Culture

Since 2015, the Let It Roll festival is held at the former airfield for three days in August, with roughly 25,000 attendees. The festival is focused on electronic music, especially

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

and

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

genres.

Sights

The Neo-Gothic Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was consecrated in 1907. It was built as a replacement for the destroyed parish complex in the village of Mladá, which was razed to the ground due to the establishment of the military base. The wall decoration dates from 1915 and 1916 and was attended by prisoners of war from the camp. The international military cemetery was founded in 1915 for victims of

. More than 6,000 people of at least 10 nationalities are buried here, 5,276 of which are Italian, therefore the cemetery is called Italian Cemetery. Mirakulum in Milovice is a family

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

that is among the most visited tourist destinations in the Central Bohemian Region.

In popular culture

Among the films shot in Milovice are '' Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin'' (1994), '' EuroTrip'' (2004), ''

Red Tails ''Red Tails'' is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States A ...

'' (2012) and ''

All Quiet on the Western Front ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' () is a semi-autobiographical novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma during the war as well as the detachme ...

'' (2022).

Twin towns – sister cities

Milovice is twinned with: *

Kistarcsa Kistarcsa () is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. A site of the Kistarcsa concentration camp during the Holocaust. Later an internment camp of State Protection Authority for political prisoners during the 1950s. Histo ...

, Hungary *

Vynnyky Vynnyky (, , ) is a small city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine. It belongs to Lviv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population was estimated to be History Since the mid-14th century, until the Partitions of Polan ...

, Ukraine * Senec, Slovakia *

Wołów Wołów (, ) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Wołów County and Gmina Wołów. It lies approximately north-west of the regional capital Wrocław. , the town has a population of 12,373. It is pa ...

, Poland

Gallery

Milovice may 1984.jpg, Soviet base in 1984 Bozi dar hangar12.JPG, Military aircraft shelter, now re-purposed for civilian recreational aircraft Milovice - abandoned building 2.jpg, Abandoned building 2011 Italsky vojensky hrbitov 12.jpg, Italian military cemetery Aurochs in Milovice 4.jpg, Milovice Nature Reserve

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Nymburk District Former Soviet military air bases in Czech Republic