Town of Chotěboř |
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Town of Chotěboř |
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No precise details have been known about the foundation of Chotěboř, however, the first settlement is supposed to be found here as early as in the 12th century. It is Smil z Lichtenburka in 1265 who is mentioned as the first proprietor of the local silver mines. These were the real cause of Jan Lucemburský´s purchase of Chotěboř in about 1329. He granted the municipality the borough privileges of Jihlava type, promoting thus Chotěboř to town. In the reign of Karel IV, Chotěboř was proclaimed a dowry town of the Bohemian Queens. In 1421 the town was seized by Petr Hromádka z Jistebnice, a Hussite military leader, and his troups. Later in 15th century, Chotěboř became the property of Mikuláš Trčka z Lípy jr, becoming thus a subjected town. The House of Trčka then made Chotěboř flourish, especially in the sphere of farm production. During the Thirty-Years War the town was severely damaged and recatholicized.
Vilém Leopold Kinský, who was in possession of Chotěboř in 1683, had a Baroque-style manor house built. In 1808 the demesne was gained by Josef Vančura z Řehnic, and in the years following 1836, it is the House of Dobrzenský z Dobrzenic who became the owners. The character of the town changed considerably after numerous fires in 19th century when a great number of sights were destroyed. Chotěboř became a county administrative and judicial center in 1850. In 1871 the Pardubice-Havlíčkův Brod railway track was completed.
Chotěboř is situated at the foot of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, in the close vicinity of the CHKO Železné hory(the Iron Mts. Protected Landscape Area), at the altitude of some 520 meters. The 92- hectare nature reserve of Údolí Doubravky (the river Doubravka valley) is to be found here, too. With its 10,000 people of inhabitants Chotěboř is the second largest town of Havlíčkův Brod county. It is since 1991 that the villages of Bílek, Dobkov, Klouzovy, Marieves, Počátky, Rankov, Střížov and Svinný have been parts of Chotěboř.
Chotěboř is the birthplace of Ignát Herrmann, a Czech writer; of Karel Ninger, a journalist; of František Sláma, a Silesian "awakener"; of Zdeněk Rykr, a painter; and of František Buttula, a composer, teacher and Bedřich Smetana´s friend.
The all-county traditional branch of industry is food processing, specialized in potato growing line. At Chotěboř itself, the most important is engineering industry, followed by wood-processing and textile industries. The main engineering center here was the Chotěbořské strojírny (Chotěboř engineering works), which was established in 1906, when a small textile plant sprang into being. In it, owing to Mr Eckhardt´s efforts, the production was set of gas-mask filters, valves, and of welding and cutting machines. Later on, the complete food-industry investment units used to be made here. In the year 1945 the plant was nationalized. Currently, Chotěboř engineering works has got disintegrated into several independent companies: the TENEZ, the NATE, the GCE(Autogen). There are some other enterprises of importance, such as the Interlignum, the Ferroplast, the Roboterm, and the Pleas subsidiary.