Kutná Hora:
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The town began in 1142 with the settlement of the first Cistercian Monastery in Bohemia, Kloster Sedlitz. By 1260 German miners began to mine for silver in the mountain region, which they named Kuttenberg, and which was part of the monastery property. The name of the mountain is said to have arrived from the monks cowls (the Kutten). The territory greatly advanced due to the silver mines which gained importance during the economic boom of the 13th century.
The earliest traces of silver have been found dating back to the 10th century, when Bohemia already was in the crossroads of long-distance trade for many centuries. Silver dinars have been discovered belonging to the period between 982-995 in the settlement of Malín, which is now a part of Kutná Hora.
From the 13th to 16th centuries the city competed with Prague economically, culturally and politically.
In 1300 when King Wenceslaus II. issued the new royal mining code that specified all administrative as well as technical terms and conditions necessary for the operation of mines. The city developed with great rapidity, and at the outbreak of the Hussite Wars in 1419 was next to Prague the most important in Bohemia, having become the favourite residence of several Bohemian kings. It was here that, on January 18, 1409, Wenceslaus IV signed the famous Decree of Kutna Hora, by which the Czech university nation was given three votes in the elections to the faculty of Prague University as against one for the three other nations.
Along with the rest of Bohemia, Kuttenberg (Kutná Hora) passed to the Austrian Empire in 1526. In 1546 the richest mine was hopelessly flooded; in the insurrection of Bohemia against Ferdinand I. the city lost all its privileges; repeated visitations of the plague and the horrors of the 30 Years War completed its ruin. Half-hearted attempts after the peace to repair the ruined mines failed; the town became impoverished, and in 1770 was devastated by fire. The mines were abandoned at the end of the 18th century.
At Kuttenberg (Kutna Hora) Prague Groschen were minted until 1547.
Kutná Hora and the neighboring town of Sedlec are listed in UNESCO. Among the most important buildings in the area are the Gothic, five-naved St. Barbara Church, begun in 1388, and the Italian Court, formerly a royal residence and mint, which was built at the end of the 13th century. The Gothic Stone Haus, which since 1902 has served as a museum, contains one of the richest archives in the country. The Gothic St. James's Church, with its 86 metre tower, is another prominent building. Sedlec is the site of the Gothic Cathedral of our Lady and the famous Ossuary.
Main sights:
- Cathedral of Our Lady (Chrám Nanebevzetí Pany Marie)
- St. Barbara Church (Kostel Svaté Barbory)
- Sedlec Ossuary (Kostnice Sedlec)
- Church of St. James (Kostel sv. Jakuba)
- Church of St. John Nepomuk (Kostel sv. Jana Nepomuckého)
- Church of Ursuline Convent (Kostel Kláštera Voršilek)
- Jesuit College (Jezuitská kolej)
- Italian Court (Vlašský dvůr)
- Marian column (Morový sloup)