Jaroměř (ˈjaromɲɛr̝̊; ) is a town in the Hradec Králové Region

Hradec Králové Region

Hradec Králové Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the north-eastern part of its historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Hradec Králové....

 of the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. It is located 15 kilometers northeast of the district town of Hradec Králové

Hradec Králové

Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. The city's economy is based on food-processing technology, photochemical, and electronics manufacture. Traditional industries include musical instrument manufacturing – the best known being PETROF pianos...

. The town lies at the confluence of three rivers, notably the Mettau and the Elbe. There are 12,778 inhabitants (1 January 2005).

The town includes the Fortress Josefov

Fortress Josefov

Fortress Josefov , , is a large historic defence complex of 18th-century military architecture, built between 1780-1790, in eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Together with fortress Terezín, it was intended as protection against attacks from Prussia, but its military importance, like other such...

.

History

The historic old town has been inhabited for more than a thousand years. Early in the 11th century a Prince of the Přemyslid dynasty

Premyslid dynasty

The Přemyslids , were a Czech royal dynasty which reigned in Bohemia and Moravia , and partly also in Hungary, Silesia, Austria and Poland.-Legendary rulers:...

 built a fortress and named it Jaroměř. The village was elevated to the status of royal town under King Otakar I of Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

.

Over 1780 to 1787, the Emperor Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

 built on the left bank of the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 and Mettau rivers, the imperial fortress Ples. Later this conurbation took the name of Josefstadt (Joseph town). In 1948 the fortress town was renamed Josefov and incorprorated into Jaroměř.

The historic old town with distinct arcades and a Marian column designed by Matthias Braun

Matthias Braun

Matthias Bernard Braun was a sculptor and carver active in the Czech lands, one of the most prominent late baroque style sculptors in the area....

 was constructed over 1723 to 1727. There was only ever a small German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

-speaking minority and in 1938 the town eluded being incorporated into the Sudetenland

Sudetenland

Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

. The following year to 1945 it was part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...

.

The famous painter Josef Šíma

Josef Sima

Josef Šíma was a renowned Czech painter, an important figure of modern European art.- Biography :After graduating from Academy of Arts in Prague where he was the student of Jan Preisler he was involved in the Devětsil movement and in Umělecká beseda in Prague before travelling to Paris in 1921. He...

 was born here in 1891.

Culture

Each summer, the city (or specifically the nearby Fortress Josefov

Fortress Josefov

Fortress Josefov , , is a large historic defence complex of 18th-century military architecture, built between 1780-1790, in eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Together with fortress Terezín, it was intended as protection against attacks from Prussia, but its military importance, like other such...

) hosts Brutal Assault

Brutal assault

Brutal Assault is an extreme metal open-air music festival taking place in the 18th century army Fortress Josefov in Jaroměř, Czech Republic. It takes place each August traditionally on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the beginning of the month. The festival was started in 1995 featuring mostly...

, the biggest Central European extreme metal

Extreme metal

Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...

 music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

. Over 10.000 metalheads from all over Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 flood the city streets for three days each year.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Jaroměř is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Warrington

Warrington

Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Ziębice

Ziebice

Ziębice is a town in Ząbkowice Śląskie County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Ziębice. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

External links

• Municipal website
• Fortress Josefov
• http://www.belinskij.kupec.cz/"Клуб друзей Яромержи" - "Klub přátel Jaroměři" - "Klub Jaroměřfreunden" - "Club of jaromerfriends" (Russian)