Jihlava

Jihlava (Ger: Iglau) is a town of about 52,700 inhabitants in Czechia. Jihlava is a centre of the Vysocina Region[?], situated on the Jihlava river on the ancient frontier between Moravia and Bohemia, and is the oldest minig town in Czechia.

Among the principal buildings are the churches of St. Jacob, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John the Baptist and St. Paul, the Municipal Hall and the catacombs, second largest in Czechia. There is also a Jewish cemetery, containing some remarkable monuments including tombstone of the parents of Gustav Mahler.

Jihlava is an old mining town where, according to legend, the silver mines were worked so early as 799. King Ottokar I (1198-1230) established here a mining-office and a mint. At a very early date it enjoyed exceptional privileges, which were confirmed by King Wenceslaus I[?] in the year 1250. The Municipal Hall contains a collection of municipal and mining laws dating asfar back as 1389. At Jihlava, on July 5, 1436, the treaty was made with the Hussites, by which the emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A granite column near the town marks the spot where Ferdinand I, in 1527, swore fidelity to the Bohemian estates. During the Thirty Years' War Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedes. In 1742 it fell into the hands of the Prussians, and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Wrede were defeated near the town.

Mostly from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

External Link:

• Official Website (http://www.jihlava.cz/e_index.asp)