Geography

UNESCO sights at Trebic

On Thursday 3 July 2003 the entry of a further Czech sight to the UNESCO List of World Heritage was confirmed. Trebic with St Prokop Basilica and Jewish quarter called Zamosti joined eleven sites in Czechia that had been passed to the List before.

sT Prokop Basilica

St Benedict Chapel consecrated in 1104 and the original monastery church from 1109 were the first cult buildings in the place where the monastery basilica was built in the middle of 13 century. It belongs to the treasures of European importance. It has been built in the transitional Romanesque-Gothic style by a late-Romanesque oriented building works that had come from southwest of France.

jewish quarter

The completely preserved ground plan of the Jewish quarter with more than 120 houses and narrow lanes shows the original extent of the ghetto that developed in the area between the river Jihlava and the hill called Hradek. Also an extended cemetery with 11,000 graves and 3,000 stone tombs belongs to the Jewish quarter.

Both of the newly listed sights are, beside their unique aarchitectural and urbanistic values, also an exceptional example of close coexistence of Christian and Jewish cultures.

History and surroundings of Trebic

Trebic is located on  both banks of the River Jihlava, which forms a natural axis of the town and actually of the whole Trebic administrative district. The countryside along the river is a natural habitat for the characteristic flora & fauna of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. One of the local curiosities is a variety of pulsatilla which you can admire on the Ptackovsky Hill, only a stone´s throw from Trebic. The nearby Mohelno Serpentine Steppe attracts visitors with its extraordinary collection of natural curiosities, thermophilic flower species, Tertiary relicts, dwarf species and the like, all concentrated in a relatively small area. Over the centuries of its existence Trebic has become an important industrial, administrative, political, cultural and entertainment centre of southwestern Moravia. The beginnings of the city go back to 1101 when Moravian apanage princes Oldrich Brnensky  and Litold Znojemsky founded a Benedictine monastery there. Thanks to the generosity of its founders, the monastery was amongst the richest in Premyslide Kingdom, serving as an important religious and educational centre. The monastery was also a moving force behind further settlement of the region.

Around the mid-thirteenth century (probably between 1240 and 1260) the Benedictine congregation decided to add a new building to the monastery: an amazing itself, managing to overcome all adversities. Nowadays it is considered one of the most precious historic monuments of this type. What is more, the Trebic Monastery decided to build from scratch a new colony on the right bank of the River Jihlava. After all those centuries the extraordinary expanse of Karlovo Square still demonstrates the Benedictines´ big hearted approach to the colonization of the region ( the cowl of the Benedictine Order is actually contained in Trebic´s coat of arms). Very soon after its foundation Trebic was referred to as ´the city´, which is evidenced by the text of the oldest surviving document from 1277.

But it was until 1335, however, that Charles IV and John of Luxemburg granted the city the privilege to build defensive walls and to enforce the norms of municipal law equal to those enforced in the Royal City of Znojmo. The content of this important privilege did not wind up as a dead letter, on the other hand, its impact on the city proved momentous. The ramparts erected around the mid-fourteenth century protected the city till the 18th century when they lost any military significance and what is more, hindered further expansion of the city. Some vestiges of the ramparts can be seen  still today. Trebic lost its original Gothic appearance in 1468  when it was almost completely wiped off the face of the earth during the wars between Jiri of Podebrady and Mathias Korvin. Nor did Trebic of the Renaissance as we know it from later pictures survive. After frequent fires Renaissance and Baroque gables were replaced with Romantic and retro-style facades. This makes two surviving Renaissance houses on Karlovo Square (Karlovo namesti) particularly precious: Frantiskovsky dum (Painted House) and Rabuv dum (Black House). The former belonged to Francesco Calligardi, an Italian merchant, the latter belonged to Jan Rab, a master soap-maker. Both houses are notable for its graffito facade. The times of the construction of the city, i. e. around mid-thirteenth century, brought into being another important monument, St. Martin´s Parish Church. Its impressively sturdy and tall tower is visible many miles around. Originally, the tower formed part of city walls and only later it was incorporated in the main church building. The church was also hit hard by the disastrous year 1468 and for many years hereafter it was used for religious service in a provisional state of repair. It was not until the 18th century that a new Baroque vault as well as two lateral chapels were added to the church. Between the aftermath of the Hussite Revolution and the post-Bila Hora era St. Martin´s Church was used by Protestants. two late-Gothic ´Pernstejn-style´doors leading into the sacristy (second half of the 15th century) and a Renaissance tin font donated to the church by Jan Rafael Chroustensky of Malovar at the beginning of the 17th century date from that time. Prior to the Battle of Bila hora (the White Mountain) Trebic was one of the centers of  Brethrens’s Union, most notably its suburb Jejkov where the Brethrens’ Chapel, a hospital and a Funeral Garden were located. Jan A. Komensky’s second wife Dorota was a daughter of Jan Cyrill, a leading functionary of  Brethrens’ Union in Trebic.

The present-day Trebic is a  city with the population of  40,000. Its industrial sector is based not only on traditional trades, such as footwear production, tool-machinery and wood-processing industries, but also on such progressive technologies as the nuclear energy production.

The beautiful scenery of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, its spectacular historic monuments and last but not least its prominent position in the cultural history of the Czech Republic lend Trebic a touch of uniqueness and attractiveness.