Olomouc (, , ; , ; , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 102,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on the Morava River, the city is the ecclesiastical metropolis and was a historical co-capital city of Moravia, before having been occupied by the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War. Today, it is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and the sixth largest city in the Czech Republic. The historic city centre is well preserved and is protected by law as urban monument reservation. The Holy Trinity Column was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 for its quintessential Baroque style and symbolic value.
Administrative division
Olomouc is made up of 26 administrative parts:
Olomouc
Bělidla
Černovír
Chomoutov
Chválkovice
Droždín
Hejčín
Hodolany
Holice
Klášterní Hradisko
Lazce
Lošov
Nedvězí
Nemilany
Neředín
Nová Ulice
Nové Sady
Nový Svět
Pavlovičky
Povel
Radíkov
Řepčín
Slavonín
Svatý Kopeček
Topolany
Týneček
Etymology
The origin of the name is unknown. According to the most frequently considered theory, it was derived from the personal name Olmút, meaning "Olmút's" (castle, court). Another theory says that the name was derived from the Proto-Slavic words ol ('beer') and mútit ('to make noise').
According to legend, there was a Roman fort founded by Roman legionnaires under the command of Julius Caesar. The fort was called Iuliomontium or Julimons, and the name Olomouc was derived from it. Although archaeologists have found traces of a camp of Roman legionnaires, the legend of the presence of Julius Caesar originated in the Renaissance period and nothing confirms it.
Geography
Olomouc is located about northeast of Brno and southeast of Prague. It lies mostly in a flat fertile land of the Upper Morava Valley. The eastern spur of the municipal territory (the villages of Lošov, Radíkov and Svatý Kopeček) extends into the Nízký Jeseník range and includes the highest point of Olomouc, a hill at above sea level. The Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area extends into the territory of Olomouc in the north.
The Morava River and Mlýnský Stream, which is a branch of the Morava, flow through the city. The Bystřice flows into the Morava at the city centre. The Oskava briefly forms the northern municipal border, before it joins the Morava.
Chomoutovské Lake, located in the northern tip of the municipal territory, was created by flooding a gravel quarry and has an area of . Together with the immediate surroundings, it is protected as a nature monument. The lake is an important stop for migratory birds and is home to one of the largest colonies of black-headed gulls and Mediterranean gulls in the country.
History
Middle Ages
During the 6th century, Slavs migrated into the area. As early as the 7th century, a centre of political power developed in the present-day quarter of Povel (in lowland, south of the city centre). Around 810 the local Slavonic ruler was defeated by troops of Great Moravian rulers and the settlement in Olomouc-Povel was destroyed.
A new centre, where the Great Moravian governor resided, developed at the gord at Předhradí, a quarter of the inner city (the eastern, smaller part of the medieval centre). This settlement survived the defeat of the Great Moravia (c. 907) and gradually became the capital of the province of Moravia.
Around 981–990, the Polish Duke Mieszko I took the Moravian Gate and Olomouc as an important place at the intersection of trade routes. Olomouc probably was mentioned in the Dagome iudex document (ca 991) as Alemura. All of Moravia was part of Poland between 1003 and 1031 during the reign of Bolesław I the Brave and partly Mieszko II Lambert. The first certain mention of the city dates back to 1017. Moravia was under Bohemian rule since 1031 (according to some Czech historians, since 1019 or 1021).