Stráž () is a market town in
Tachov District in the
Plzeň Region
Plzeň Region or Plzeňský Region (also known as Pilsen Region; ) is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the western part of the historical land of Bohemia and named after the capital, Plz ...
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 1,400 inhabitants.
Administrative division
Stráž consists of 11 municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):
*Stráž (791)
*Bernartice (90)
*Bonětice (41)
*Bonětičky (29)
*Borek (37)
*Dehetná (37)
*Jadruž (25)
*Olešná (42)
*Souměř (49)
*Strachovice (57)
*Valcha (5)
Geography
Stráž is located about southeast of
Tachov and west of
Plzeň
Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
. It lies in the
Upper Palatine Forest Foothills. The highest point is the hill Homole at above sea level. The
Úhlavka River flows through the municipality. The territory of Stráž is rich in fishponds.
History
The first written mention of Stráž is from 1331, when it became a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
. Existence of a Jewish community is also documented in 1331. After the
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...
, the area began to be settled by Germans. From the mid-15th century, Stráž was a part of the
Přimda estate.
Demographics
Transport
Stráž is located on the railway line
Tachov–
Domažlice
Domažlice (; ) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monument reser ...
.
Sights
The main landmark of Stráž is the Church of Saint Wenceslaus. It was originally a Romanesque church from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, rebuilt in all periods: in the Gothic in the second half of the 14th century; in the Renaissance in 1609, when the tower was added; in the Baroque in two stages – 1720–1722 and 1740s; and in 1878, when reconstruction was carried out after the fire in 1876.
The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a cemetery church located on the western edge of the market town. It was built in the Baroque church in 1734.
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is located in Bernartice. It is a large Baroque church, built in 1734–1739 on the site of an old Gothic church.
The Jewish cemetery in Stráž is one of the oldest cemeteries of this kind in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
. The first written mention of the cemetery is from 1450, but it is probably older. The preserved tombstones are from the 17–19th centuries.
Notable people
*
Anton Gag (1859–1908), painter
*
Edmund Weil (1879–1922), German bacteriologist
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Straz
Populated places in Tachov District
Market towns in the Czech Republic