Zákupy
| Zákupy | |||
| Town | |||
 Zákupy Castle | |||
|
|||
| Country | Czech Republic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Liberec | ||
| District | Česká Lípa | ||
| Commune | Zákupy | ||
| Coordinates | 50°41′29″N 14°39′4″E / 50.69139°N 14.65111°ECoordinates: 50°41′29″N 14°39′4″E / 50.69139°N 14.65111°E | ||
| Highest point | |||
| - elevation | 444 m (1,457 ft) | ||
| Lowest point | |||
| - elevation | 264 m (866 ft) | ||
| Area | 32.27 km2 (12.46 sq mi) | ||
| Population | 2,810 (2014) | ||
| Density | 87 / km2 (225 / sq mi) | ||
| Mayor | Radek Lípa | ||
| Timezone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| - summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 471 23 | ||
   Location in the Czech Republic
| |||
| Wikimedia Commons: Zákupy | |||
| Statistics: statnisprava.cz | |||
| Website: www.zakupy.cz | |||
Zákupy (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzaːkupɪ]; German: Reichstadt) is a town of Česká Lípa District, in Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. The number of inhabitants is 2,810.
Geography
The town is located in the north of the historic Bohemia region, on the Svitávka (Zwittebach) River near its junction with the Ploučnice. Since 2003, Zákupy's Old Town is a designated urban heritage conservation district.
History
The fortress of Richinstadt was mentioned in a 1306 deed, the Czech name Zákupy first appeared in 1352, probably denoting two villages beneath the fort which grew together over the centuries. Zákupy was referred to as a market town (městečko) already in 1359. The estates were held by Bohemian nobles like the Panczer dynasty, from 1363 by the Lords of Wartenberg, who sold Zákupy to the Berka z Dubé noble family in 1460/63. They erected a Renaissance castle on the foundations from 1541 to 1552 and rebuilt the adjacent town with its parish church. The city rights were confirmed by the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II, King of Bohemia, in 1582.
During the Thirty Years' War, town and castle were acquired by the Imperial field marshal Julius Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1632, and devastated by Swedish troops shortly afterwards. His son Julius Francis had it rebuilt in a Baroque style. The last heiress Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg died at Reichstadt Castle in 1741.
In 1805 the estates were purchased by the Habsburg archduke Ferdinand III, and in 1818 Emperor Francis I of Austria awarded his grandson Napoleon II, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte and Marie Louise of Austria, the title of a "Duke of Reichstadt". Napoleon II died without heirs in 1832, having never visited the town. After his resignation in 1848 Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria took over the management of the Reichstadt manor, with considerable success. He used the castle as a summer residence and had the interior lavishly decorated. Upon his death in 1875, it fell to Emperor Franz Joseph.
On 8 July 1876 Russia's Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov and Austria's Emperor Franz Joseph reached the Reichstadt Agreement on the following Russo-Turkish War and the partition of the Balkans at the castle. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Countess Sophie Chotek of Chotkova were married there on 1 July 1900.
In October 1938 the town was annexed by Nazi Germany according to the Munich Agreement and incorporated into the Reichsgau Sudetenland. After World War II the German population was expelled.
External links
- Official website (Czech)
Notes
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zákupy. |