Nový Jičín

History of the town

Nový Jičín was established in the 14th century during the reign of the Luxembourgs. In 1313, Jan of Luxembourg issued a document in which he granted the town the right to collect tolls and customs duties, and this document is the oldest documented written source relating to Nový Jičín.

Already in this period, Nový Jičín occupied a strategic position at the crossroads of trade routes and paths, thanks to which the city developed favorably. From 1434, the owners of the town changed quite often. Between 1500 and 1558, it was the Žerotín family, during whose tenure Nový Jičín flourished and became significantly richer. The Gothic fortress of the Lords of Kravaře was rebuilt into a Renaissance residence and the current Žerotín Chateau. After the city was engulfed in a devastating fire, the Žerotíns were responsible for the construction of new stone houses in place of the original wooden ones, which were destroyed by fire. The square and the town hall were built and crafts flourished in the city. Revenues to the city treasury increased due to the brewing and tapping of beer, but mainly due to cloth production. At this time, Nový Jičín became the second largest producer of cloth in Moravia after Jihlava. And because the town became very rich, in 1588 it was redeemed from the servitude of the Žerotíns. It thus became a chamber city, above which was only the royal crown.

At the end of the 16th century, a large part of the population were Germans, and most of the population became Lutherans. In 1620, Nový Jičín was promoted to a royal town by Fridrich Falcký, however, a sharp fall of the town occurred soon, with the Battle of the White Mountain.

Nový Jičín was no longer an independent town, but again a serf town. It was donated to the Jesuits of Olomouc, which it owned until 1773, when the order was abolished. In 1768 and 1773, the town was again engulfed in fires, during which Baroque houses were destroyed and new construction was carried out in the spirit of Classicism.

Nový Jičín became the center of the area only in the 19th century, when, thanks to the industrial revolution, the production of hats and the textile industry were introduced into the town.

Sights and interesting places

Today, a surprisingly large number of sights are part of the city's monument reserve, which was declared here in 1967. The city center is naturally a square that has no analogues in the Czech Republic. There are very valuable burgher houses with arcades, which were once owned by rich patricians. It is especially worth mentioning the two-storey Renaissance house with loggias, called Stará Pošta, which dates from 1563. In the center of the square is a plague column from the 18th century, a stone fountain and near the Church of the Assumption.

The Žerotín Chateau, which is today the seat of the Museum of the Novojičín Region with a permanent exhibition of hats, certainly deserves a separate chapter.

Of the church buildings in Nový Jičín, it is worth mentioning the Spanish Chapel, the Bastion, the Church of the Holy Trinity.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová