Valtice

Valtice
Town
Valtice Castle
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Czech Republic
Region	South Moravian
District	Břeclav
Commune	Břeclav
Elevation	192 m (630 ft)
Coordinates	48°45′00″N 16°45′00″E
Area	47.85 km2 (18.47 sq mi)
Population	3,671 (2005)
Density	77 / km2 (199 / sq mi)
First mentioned	12th century
Mayor	Jiří Petrů
Timezone	CET (UTC+1)
- summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	691 42
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Name	Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape
Year	1996 (#20)
Number	763
Region	Europe and North America
Criteria	i, ii, iv
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Valtice
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.radnice-valtice.cz

The town of Valtice (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvalcɪtsɛ]; German: Feldsberg) in the Czech Republic contains one of the most impressive Baroque residences of Central Europe. It was designed as the seat of the ruling princes of Liechtenstein by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early 18th century. Construction was supervised by Domenico Martinelli, who was employed as an on-site architect. The palace is surrounded by an English park with the Temple of Diana (1812) and other neoclassical structures. Together with the neighbouring manor of Lednice, to which it is connected by a 7 km-long lime-tree avenue, Valtice forms the World Heritage Site Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape. The princely family lost all its privileges with the collapse of their protectors the Habsburg Empire and by the then newly established state of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the predecessor of the Czech Republic; and the castle was confiscated after World War II, when the Communists took power.

Population development

Census year	Population	Ethnicity of inhabitants
year		German	Czechs	other
1836	2889	-	-	-
1869	2424	-	-	-
1880	2837	2804	3	30
1890	3009	2830	133	36
1900	3036	2987	34	35
1910	3402	3291	34	57
1921	3257	2285	625	332
1930	3393	1924	1102	367
1939	2857	-	-	-

History

Until 1919 Valtice/Feldsberg belonged to Lower Austria. After World War I the town and its surroundings was annexed by Czechoslovakia. The main reason was the requirement that Czechoslovakia got hold of the entire Znojmo-Břeclav railway.

Notable people

• Leopold Adametz
• Franz Bauer note: when Franz relocated to work at Kew Gardens, London his name was anglicized to Francis Bauer
• Ferdinand Bauer
• Joseph Bauer
• Johannes Matthias Sperger (1750–1812), contrabassist, composer
• The town has connections with the Liechtenstein Family

See also

• Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape

External links

• World Heritage Site
• Photos of Valtice
• Historie (de)