Mladá Boleslav - a city of cars
Less than an hour's drive northeast of Prague we find Mladá Boleslav, a statutory town in the Central Bohemian Region with more than 46,000 inhabitants. The history of this important industrial center is more than a thousand years long and it became world famous mainly thanks to the production of the Škoda car manufacturer.
Information for visitors
Interesting facts Mladá Boleslav - a city of cars
In the vicinity of Mladá Boleslav, there is a charming landscape, part of which extends into the Bohemian Paradise. In the city itself, visitors can use a sightseeing tourist route, connecting all major city monuments.
History of the town
In the places where we find Mladá Boleslav today, there was a Slavic fortified settlement in the early Middle Ages, which bore the name of Prince Boleslav, and in 1130 there was a castle named Nová Boleslav. Thanks to the fact that the castle, together with the municipality, became centers of relatively great importance in the whole region, it began to be called the Boleslav region. The importance of the castle began to decline after the construction of the nearby castle Bezděz and later it was even destroyed and subsequently passed into the ownership of the family of lords of Michalovice, from whom Ješek of Michalovice transferred a nearby settlement near the castle, creating the town of Mladá Boleslav. .
After the end of the Hussite wars, Boleslav was owned by the Tovačovský family from Cimburk, who introduced the Unity of Brethren to the town, and at the time when Boleslav was owned by the Krajíři z Krajku, this town was the most important fraternal center in the Czech lands. In the 16th century, Mladá Boleslav became a royal city.
The decline of the city was caused by the Thirty Years' War, and the development was brought about by the Josephine reforms. At the end of the 19th century, Mladá Boleslav was already a highly developed industrial city, mainly thanks to Václav Klement and Václav Laurin. It was they who established the production of bicycles here in 1895, in 1898 the first motorcycle was manufactured here and in 1905 the first car. At present, Mladá Boleslav is nicknamed the metropolis of the Czech automotive industry.
Important places in Mladá Boleslav
During a visit to Mladá Boleslav, it is definitely worth seeing the original medieval castle, which was later rebuilt into a chateau. In addition, there is also the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary or the Church of St. Jan Nepomucký or the Renaissance town hall directly on the local square. A pleasant walk to the outskirts of Mladá Boleslav promises a large forest park Štěpánka.
Author: Andrea Štyndlová