Vyšší Brod

Vyšší Brod
Town
Vyšší Brod Monastery
Flag Coat of arms
Vyšší Brod Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 48°36′58″N 14°18′43″E
Country	Czech Republic
Region	South Bohemian
District	Český Krumlov
First mentioned	1259
Government
• Mayor	Milan Zálešák
Area
• Total	69.76 km2 (26.93 sq mi)
Elevation	571 m (1,873 ft)
Population  (2020-01-01)
• Total	2,617
• Density	38/km2 (97/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	382 73
Website	www.mestovyssibrod.cz

Vyšší Brod (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvɪʃiː ˈbrot]; Template:Lang-de) is a town in Český Krumlov District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 2,600 inhabitants and it is the southernmost municipality in the Czech Republic. The centre of the town is historically significant and is protected by law as Urban monument zone. Vyšší Brod Monastery, an important historic landmark, is located in the town.

The town has many tourists attractions like the Cistercian cloister, the Lipno Reservoir which connects to the Vltava River (which is one of the most popular canoeing routes in the Czech Republic), and the historical town center.

History

The town extends around the already existent ford its place exceeded Vltava medieval merchant trail from Linz to Bohemia. The settlement was founded on the site of the latest in the 12th century and belonged to the Rosenberg dominion. In 1259 there Vok I. of Rosenberg founded together with the monks of the Cistercian monastery Wilhering and settlement with extensive grounds around them donated. Vyšší Brod received higher status by the decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1870. In 1909, the town began initial building of the railway line between Rybník and Lipno nad Vltavou by industrialists Arnošta Poráka and abbot Bruna Pammera, which was completed and opened in late 1911, ensure the town rail link.

In September 1938 the area became the site of fighting between the Czechoslovak armed forces and Sudetendeutsches Freikorps. On 28 September an attack by the Freikorps supported by local German residents to drive Czechoslovak forces off and by the next morning had to retreat to the left bank of the Vltava. Later that day, Czechoslovak reinforcements arrived, one bicycle company and another company by armored train enabling Czechoslovak forces to quickly retake the town. The Munich Agreement later gave the Vyšebrodsko as well as the rest of Sudetenland to Germany.

The Nazi government occupied the cloister after expelling the monks who acted against them, and used it as a warehouse of stolen art and historical objects. The German occupation ended on 6 May 1945 with the arrival of the US Army, with which it had fought hopeless at the approaches to the town.

Most of the ethnic German population was expelled and was resettled by mostly non-native population in 1945. After the expulsion, most of the monks of German origin restored the monastery. In 1950 the monastery was attacked by the communist State Security, who forcibly took it and sent the remaining monks to labor camps.

In 1959, the south of the town was part of the Iron Curtain, behind which there was only a small amount of the population in the villages Studánky and Dolní Drkolná. After the opening of borders in 1989, the town's importance strongly grew due to the direct road to the border crossing at Studánky / Bad Leonfelden. A number of new accommodation and catering facilities were added including retail services (bakery, bookshop owners mostly Vietnamese), including nightclubs. In 1990 the monks returned to the monastery.

Sights

• Vyšší Brod Monastery and its Church of the Assumption- Built in 1259 for the Order of Cistercians
• The parish church of St. Bartholomew
• The pilgrimage Church of Maria Rast am Stein

Notable people

• Leopold Wackarž (1810–1901), Cistercian abbot general
• Franz Isidor Proschko (1816–1891), Austrian writer

Trivia

The asteroid no. 121089, which was discovered in 1999 by Miloš Tichý from the Kleť Observatory, was named after the town.

External links

• Media related to Vyšší Brod at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website (in Czech)