Mladá Boleslav
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Template:Geobox Mladá Boleslav (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmladaː ˈbolɛslaf]; German: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, on the left bank of the Jizera river about 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of Prague.
Founded in the second half of the 10th century by King Boleslav II as a royal castle. Because there already was a castle known as Boleslav near Prague, this new castle was named Mladá (young) to distinguish it from the older Boleslav, which became known in the 15th century as Stará Boleslav (Old Boleslav). The town received partial city rights in 1334 and 1436, becoming an important site on the road from Prague to northern Bohemia, Lusatia, and Brandenburg. In the 16th century the town was a leading centre of the Unitas Fratrum / Unity of the Brethren / Moravian Church, hosting the Brethren's bishop, Renaissance church, and printing house. After being re-Catholicized in the 17th century, the town's population declined.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Mladá Boleslav (called Bumsla by Jews) was an important Jewish center.[1] In the 19th century (in fact, the period of decline of the Jewish community), Mladá Boleslav was dubbed "Jerusalem on Jizera". In 1634, Jacob Bassevi von Treuenberg (born 1580 in Verona, Italy), the first ennobled Jew in the Habsburg monarchy, was buried on the Jewish cemetery in Mladá Boleslav.
In the 19th century new prosperity came: the town became an important regional centre as new schools, theatres, museums, and the Laurin & Klement (today Škoda) automobile factory were founded. Since the 1990s the factory is making it one of the richest Czech towns.
Visitors Sights
- Templ Municipal History Museum - new holographic exhibition in gothic town-palace;
- Škoda Museum - Car museum;
- Škoda Manufacturing Plant - Car manufacturing and assembly plant;
- Brethren renaissance cathedral - public open gallery;
- Regional Museum - Historical, cultural and social history collections
Notable people
- Elijah Landsofer (died 1702), 17th-century Rabbi
- František Gellner (1881 – after 1914), poet
- Martin Havlát (born 1981), ice hockey player, NHL player for the New Jersey Devils
- Siegfried Kapper (1821–1879), writer
- Adina Mandlová (1910–1991), actress, was born there.
- Alfréd Meissner (1871–1950), law theorist, leader of the Social Democratic Party, justice minister and minister of social welfare in the 1st Czechoslovak republic, deputy Jewish Elder in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto in 1944 to 1945
- Mila Rechcigl (born 1930), scientist and long-term president of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) was born here.
- Marek Schwarz (born 1986), former NHL goalie for the St. Louis Blues
- Zdenek Sekanina (born 1936), American astronomer
- Jiri Vlcek (born 1978), Italian rower
- Radim Vrbata (born 1981), ice hockey player, NHL player for the Florida Panthers
- Jan Železný (born 1966), three-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion in the javelin
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Mladá Boleslav is twinned with:
Sports
The local football team FK Mladá Boleslav plays in the Gambrinus liga (top national division), four times qualified for the Uefa Cup and European League, beating such opponents as Olympique de Marseille 4-3 on aggregate in 2006 or US Citta di Palermo 2-1 on aggregate in 2007. The local ice hockey team, BK Mladá Boleslav (Bruslařský klub), relegated in 2012 from the Extraliga, but quickly returned in 2014 and is set to participate in the 2014–15 Czech Extraliga season.
References
- ^ Spector, Shmuel; Wigoder, Geoffrey (2001). "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: K-Sered". NYU Press. p. 832. ISBN 9780814793770.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Mladá Boleslav at the official website of the Czech Republic www.czech.cz
- Article at guide.travel.cz
- Regional Museum
- Youtube-channel about the history of Mladá Boleslav
- Information about the town at the town council's website (in Czech)
- Karate TJ Auto Škoda Mladá Boleslav - klub sportovního karate s dlouhou tradicí v Mladé Boleslavi