Pernink (german: Bärringen) is a municipality and village in

Karlovy Vary District Karlovy Vary District or Carlsbad District ( cs, okres Karlovy Vary) is a district ('' okres'') within the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. Its administrative center is Karlovy Vary. List of municipalities Abertamy - Andělská Hora - ...

in the

Karlovy Vary Region The Karlovy Vary Region or Carlsbad Region ( cs, Karlovarský kraj, German: ''Karlsbader Region'') is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the westernmost part of its historical region of Bohemia. It is named afte ...

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 600 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Hamlets of Bludná and Rybná are administrative parts of Pernink.

Geography

Pernink is located in the Ore Mountains. The village is situated in the valley of the Bílá Bystřice stream.

History

At the beginning of the 16th century, mining pioneers settled in the area which was dominated by dense forest at the time. According to legend, a bear found ore here. The legend is preserved in the coat of arms and also in the German name (Bär = bear). In 1532, a settlement called ''Peringer'' was promoted to a mining town by the then owner of the estate, Jindřich Schlick. The town received further privileges in 1559 and 1562. The predominant industry was the mining of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

and

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. The area between Pernink,

Abertamy Abertamy (german: Abertham) is a town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 900 inhabitants. The town is known as a winter sports centre. Administrative parts The village of Hřebečná is the adm ...

and

Horní Blatná Horní Blatná (german: Bergstadt Platten) is a town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as urban monument zone. Histor ...

used to be called "silver triangle". Following the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, most of the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

miners left to neighbouring

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. Mining was gradually replaced by forestry and crafts. In the first half of the 19th century, Adalbert Meinl founded a textile factory. Small workshops for the manufacturing of wooden and iron products were established. In 1843, the town had almost 1,800 residents living in 207 houses. The economic situation was bolstered by the opening of the railway in 1899. In the inter-war period, the number of residents rose to approximately 3,500. From 1938 to 1945 it was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and administered as partof 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. ...

. After the

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, almost 90% if the inhabitants were expelled. The area was resettled with hundreds of new Czech settlers in 1946. Following the closure of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

mines in

Jáchymov Jáchymov (); german: Sankt Joachimsthal or ''Joachimsthal'') is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants. The historical core of the town from the 16th century is we ...

, the number of residents decreased.

Economy

Today, Pernink lives mainly from tourism. The municipality is a centre of winter and summer sports.

Transport

Pernink is located on the

Karlovy Vary–Johanngeorgenstadt railway The Karlovy Vary–Johanngeorgenstadt railway connects Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic with Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony, Germany. The highest point of this mountain railway lies above the sea level. The entire line was opened for regular tra ...

. The local railway station is with an elevation of the second highest in the Czech Republic.

Sights

The Church of the Holy Trinity was built in 1714–1716. It has a tower in Alpine style. The

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

in Pernink is at the highest altitude in the country. It is a significant technical monument. The former Bludná mining district is a part of

Ore Mountain Mining Region The Ore Mountain Mining Region (officially Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region; german: Montanregion Erzgebirge, cs, Montanregion Krušné hory) is an industrial heritage landscape, over 800 years old, in the border region of the Ore Mountai ...

, protected 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 ...

Notable people

Rudolf Kippenhahn Rudolf Kippenhahn (24 May 1926 – 15 November 2020) was a German astrophysicist and science author. Biography Rudolf Kippenhahn was born in Pernink, Czechoslovakia. He originally studied mathematics and physics at the University of Erlangen-Nu ...

(1926–2020), German astrophysicist *

Rudolf Höhnl Rudolf Höhnl (born 21 April 1946 in Pernink) is a Czechoslovakian former ski jumper. He won the bronze medal in the individual large hill at the 1974 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Mu ...

(born 1946), ski jumper

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Karlovy Vary District Villages in the Ore Mountains