Havlíčkův Brod in Vysočina

The old town of Havlíčkův Brod in the Vysočina region, 120 km east of Prague, is known for its landmarks, famous personalities, or the legend of Hnát the Traitor. The first written mention of Havlíčkův Brod on River Sázava dates back to the beginning of the 13th century.

The settlement near the silver mines later became a town with royal rights. King Sigismund, the son of famous Czech king Charles IV, settled there during the Hussite Wars, but Jan Žižka, the Hussite leader, soon conquered the town.

The historical centre of Havlíčkův Brod was declared a protected site in 1990. The most famous house at the square is Havlíček’s house where the Vysočina Museum is, as well as the monument of Karel Havlíček Borovský, a famous Czech publicist and author. He lived there until his deportation to Brixen in the Alps. An interesting thing about Havlíčkův Brod is that it has two town halls. The old one has a tower with a clock and a skeleton standing in the niche of the Renaissance gable; a legend says that it belongs to treacherous Hnát who sold the town to the enemy. At the centre of the square, there is a fountain with a statue of Triton and a Baroque column of the plague from 1725; around the corner, you will find the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary from the end of the 13th century with a tower clock that has twenty-four numbers instead of twelve. Around the square, there are remains of the town walls, the medieval Štáfl house, and a park called the Future.

In addition to Karel Havlíček Borovský, after whom the original Německý Brod is now called, other famous Czechs lived there. For example, the grammar school there was attended by philologist Josef Dobrovský, composer Bedřich Smetana or artist Jan Zrzavý.