Most

Most (German: Brüx) is a city in the northwest of the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is situated between the Czech Central Mountains (Czech: České středohoří) and the Ore Mountains (Czech: Krušné hory), approximately 77 km (48 miles) northwest of Prague along the Bílina River and southwest of Ústí nad Labem.

1 Etymology
2 History
3 Life in the town
4 Industry
5 City districts
6 Famous People
7 Neighboring cities and towns
8 Friendship towns
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Etymology

The name Most means "bridge" in Czech. The town was named after the system of bridges over swamps which lay in this area in 10th century. The German name for Most is Brüx (derived from the German word for "bridge", Brücke).

[edit] History

The Latin Chronica Boemorum mentions a Slavic settlement below the Gnevin Castle (Czech: Hněvín) called Gnevin Pons (Czech: Hněvínský most) in 1040. Through the swamps there led a merchant route from Prague to Freiberg. The network of wooden bridges was built to provide comfortable passages through this territory. Hneva from the Hrabisic dynasty established a military stronghold to protect caravans. Under this stronghold the village that would become Most developed.

In 1227 Kojata, the last of the Hrabisics, passed his property to the cloister of the Knights of the Cross. Since 1238 the royal town was owned by the Přemyslids and it became a rich city with many churches. Kings Otakar II, John of Luxembourg, and Charles IV all granted Most city rights. In the 14th century, due to colonization, the city became predominantly German.

During the 15th and 16th centuries the city was hit by several fires. About 1517, city reconstruction began the foundations of several significant facilities, including the new dean's church and the Renaissance city hall.

During the Thirty Years' War, the city was occupied by Swedish troops. Both in the early years and in the last years of the war it was captured by stratagem. In a similar manner the castle Hněvín was captured.

After the Thirty Years' War, Most lost much of its economical and political significance, and it was not until the second half of the 19th century that the emergence of industry and mining brought renewed importance to the city. In 1870 a railway line was built, heralding a population and building explosion (sugar works, porcelain factory, steel works, brewery, founding of city museum etc.). In 1895 the city was affected by quicksand that swallowed several houses, including some of their occupants.

Lookout tower of the rebuilt Hněvín offers a view over the former mining area with the moved Church as well as over the new town

Into the 1930s, the quick building activity continued. In 1900 the RICO plant for dressing material was constructed. Since 1901, an electric street car line links Most with Kopisty up to Janov. In 1911 the most modern theatre in what today is the Czech Republic. The construction of a unique dam at Křížatky from 1911 to 1914 solved the city's problem with the supply of drinking water. The German-speaking population of the city has been expelled after World War II, mainly in the year 1946, and replaced with Czechs. The war brought to the city the destruction of housing estates under the castle Hněvín. After 1964 the process of "moving" the city began.

During the sixties, Most's historic centre was completely destroyed to make room for the expanding lignite mines, a process that lasted until 1970. This process involved the destruction of many historic monuments, including a brewery dating from the 15th century and a theatre designed in 1910 by Alexander Graf, a Viennese architect who designed many theatres across Central Europe, including ones in Ostrava and Ljubljana. One building, however, was preserved: the Gothic Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie), built between 1517 and 1594 and designed by Jakob Heilmann of Schweinfurt. In 28 days it was moved by train to the new town, 841 metres away, at the rate of roughly 30 metres per day. This building was mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest building ever moved on wheels.

[edit] Life in the town

As a young city Most does not have many historical sights, yet there are two important ones: Hněvín Castle and the Gothic Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie). On the other hand there are many amusement facilities which can be visited: planetarium, observatory, autodrome, aquadrome or hippodrome.

The city of Most is known for its huge share of people living in panelaks. The decimated environment along with urban development has given the city a depressing feeling. On the other side the concentration of population in the flats enabled remarkable development of informational technologies. For example the cable television project functional in 1988 was something unusual in any other Czech city. Now many people have access to the broadband internet at prices well below average in the Czech Republic.^{[citation needed]}

The new city is well designed (wide streets, many parks in the center), especially the infrastructure and traffic situation is quite good in comparison with cities of similar size. The social situation of local people is bad. With the unemployment rate of nearly 25% (as of 2005) the locality is far the worst in the Czech Republic. This number is caused by huge workforce of aging unqualified miners. Also flat accommodation is quite cheap so it pushes more unemployed people from other regions to live there and raises this number.^{[citation needed]}

Due to heavy social and European Union funding and the development of local business and industry, Most is beginning to recover.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Industry

Most is the heart of the northern Bohemia lignite-mining region and serves as an important industrial railway junction. Other industries in Most include textile, ceramics, steel, and chemicals.

During the second half of 20th century Most turned to a dusty and dirty miner town and in the communist era it was said to be one of the darkest cities of Czechoslovakia.

The mining itself has long tradition in the area. Extensive mining operations are continuing after the year 2000, but now completely under control of foreign companies. Many surrounding villages are planned to be abandoned due to surface mining.^{[citation needed]}

Unsurprisingly, heavy industry has shaped the image and development of postwar Most.

As environmental conditions have improved in recent years, the growing of apples and grape vines has developed.

[edit] City districts

The neighborhood of Rudolice nad Bílinou, known as Chánov, a housing estate created during the communist era, has become a symbol of the poverty and ghettoization of many Roma people in the Czech Republic.

Vtelno used to be a village near Most. When the new city was built near it, Vtelno became an integral part of Most. It has a church, a historical Baroque manor, and many monoliths and sculptures that have been collected during the era of demolition of villages in the region (due to coal mining).