Lnáře

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Coordinates: 49°27′29″N 13°47′16″E / 49.45806, 13.78778
Lnáře
Schlüßelburg
Market town
none
Coat of arms
Country Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic
State Prachens
Region South Bohemian
District Strakonice
Commune Blatná
Elevation 565 m (1,854 ft)
Coordinates 49°27′29″N 13°47′16″E / 49.45806, 13.78778
Area 12.51 km² (4.83 sq mi)
Population 756 (2006-07-03)
Density 60 /km² (155 /sq mi)
First mentioned 1318
Mayor Stanislava Mašková
Timezone CET (UTC+1)
 - summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 387 42
Location in the Czech Republic
Location in the Czech Republic
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Lnáře
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.lnare-obec.cz

Lnáře (German: Schlüßelburg) is a small municipality in the Czech Republic, located 35 km northwest of Pisek city or 50 km southeast of Pilsen. It is situated on the shores of three ponds within municipal borders in the northwest corner of the formerly autonomous Prachensky Kray, today in the Strakonice District. The name of municipality is from the Slavic word len ("flix") and combined with a suffix which gives a meaning of "flix-makers" or "flix producers". The German name is in remembrance of a different fact – Schlüssel means "key" and Burg means "stronghold": in the second part of the 17th century a golden key was found in the building site of local New Castle.

[edit] History

The municipality is the former centre of a vast agrary husbandry including two small towns and about 50 villages in its proximity (only the small settlement Zahorčice is still administered by Lnáře). Such was the situation between the mid-15th century and the mid-19th century. After this period of relative prosperity (with a few pauses incurred by civil convulsions) emerged an era of nationwide population decline in all counties in Central Europe (with exceptions in entirely undeveloped mountainous counties in the Carpathian Mountains system etc.), and the local population significantly decreased to the current number of less than 830 people.

The oldest mention of Lnáře or Schlüsselburg dates back to 1319, when it was referenced to the local Old Chateau (former stronghold from wood) as the site of the landlord of Lnáře district (later Knights of Lnáře). Lnáře was a village drowned in sea of woods on the shores of muddy streams in moorland. This moorland was (as in case of town Třeboň) very soon turned into a basin with dozens of ponds and lakes, later numbering four hundred. New kinds of unscaly carp were cultivated in the 19th century by Theodor Mokry, with the name Lnarsky modrak ("Bluefish of Lnáře"). A train line was built between the towns of Blatná and Nepomuk (local name Pomuk) near the start of the 20th century leading near Lnare municipality, which is still in use. The construction of the European route E49 through Lnáře was also beneficial for the local population.

[edit] Lnáře today

Lnáře has two chateaux: the Old Chateau and the New Chateau. The Old Chateau is 690 years old, while the New Chateau is only about 340 years old. Between them is an English garden (1 ha²) with a few pools, many flower-beds of roses, a fountain, a small baroque mosque with two low minarets and beautiful old trees with sculptures of the ancients gods carved by a famous baroque sculptor. The New Chateau is adorned with great paintings of dozens Greek gods. In its Big Hall was signed the treaty for the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia.[citation needed] The Old Chateau is used for municipality needs, including as a gallery and bibliotheca, as well as leasing space for doctors and masseuses and flats for rent.

Lnáře is divided into five quarters: Mala Strana (Lesser Part), Svata Anna (Saint Anna), Pristav (the harbour), Zamky (chateaux) and Centrum (the Centre). Saint Anna, with the Monastery of the shoeless Augustinians and church, dates back to the 18th century. Today these buildings are used for government purposes, mainly as an insane asylum, but it will stop its activity in time. Aside from this, Lnáře has three more places for prayers – the Chapel of Adventist Church in the New Chateau, the Catholic Church by the graveyard and the Chapel of Hussite Church in the centre of municipality.

A new development is the dense system of tourism cycle-ways with rest places. These cycle-ways are created for all kinds of people, allowing them to visit all the landmarks of the unique local landscape.