Bílovec

Bílovec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbiːlovɛts]; German: Wagstadt) is a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region, near Nový Jičín. It is situated on the slopes of the Nízký Jeseník mountains and on the banks of the Bílovka River.

Bílovec is the birthplace of tennis players Květa Kvitová, internationally respected architect Emil Prikryl and Sudeten German social democratic politician Hugo Schmidt (1844–1907).

History

Until 1918, WAGSTADT was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), in the district with the same name, one of the 8 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Austrian Silesia.

In 1938, it was occupied by the Nazi army as one of the municipalities in Sudetenland. The German speaking population was expelled in 1945 (see the Beneš decrees) and replaced by Czech settlers.

GMK

The Grammar school of Nicolas Copernicus (Gymnázium Mikuláše Koperníka) is located in Bílovec. It was founded on 22.6.1946 as a scion of Opavian matrix. Antonín Frantl a former high school teacher was appointed the first head master. Building had 12 classrooms, a staffroom, a small sports-hall, a library and a class specialized in natural sciences. Everything was influenced by the fact that the building itself was used as a lazaret for German soldiers.

In October 1978 the Department of Education gave school its honorable name "Gymnázium Mikuláše Koperníka".

In the year 1976 construction of a boarding house was finished and in the same year the first class with specialization in math was opened. The construction of the expansion called "pavilon B" began in 1979 and was finished in August 1983. A year later an entry hall was built. These included new central cloakrooms, social units, classrooms, staff rooms and labs. A Multi-purpose outdoor sport ground with a synthetic surface was completed in 1993. Today the Grammar school of Nicolas Copernicus has 419 students divided into 16 classes and was recognised (15.4.2011 - Hospodářské noviny) as one of the nine most prestigious schools in Czech Republic (and the only one in the Moravian-Silezian region). GMK includes pavilion A (the old building), pavilion B (the new building), a big sports hall, a library and a boarding house. The school has been recently modernized thanks to donations from the European Union.

PRINCIPALS: - since 1942 - Antonín Frantl - since 1951 - Jan Husák - since 1954 - Miroslav Rusek - since 1970 - Ota Hon - since 1983 - Bedřich Špaček - since 1991 - Petr Bujok - since 1995 - Radmila Horáková - since 1996 - Václav Vaněk - since 2010 - Pavel Mrva

Notable people born in Bílovec

• Petra Kvitová, 2011 Wimbledon champion

Gallery

• 
  Slezské square
• 
  Tkalcovská street