Hostouň (Domažlice District)

Administrative parts of Hostouň are: Babice, Holubeč, Horoušany, Mělnice, Mírkovice, Přes, Skařez, Slatina, Štítary, Svržno and Sychrov.

The first written mention of the village was in 1238 as a property of Gumpert of Hostouň. His descendants who ruled the area until the 15th century also possessed the Palatinate town of Schönsee.

During the Hussite Wars, Citbor of Wolfstein, a supporter of Imperator Sigismund, ruled Hostouň. When the reign of the noble families of Wolfstein and Rabenstein came to an end the Dominion of Hostouň was taken over by the Lords of Guttenstein. In 1522 the village was granted the right to hold markets by Georg of Guttenstein. In 1587 Imperator Rudolf II awarded Hostouň the rank of a town and a coat of arms: A stannous wall with an open gate, above the wall two towers, between these a tripartite hatchment with a back deer head, a crowned lion and below a red area. Additionally in 1587 the town was granted a concession to hold two other fairs and a horse market in addition to the annual Saint-James-Market.

During the Reformation, Hostouň was temporarily Protestant. As a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain, the property of the Guttensteins was confiscated. The dominion was sold to Zdenko of Mitrowitz (1622), after a short period sold to the family of Czernin and in 1656 to the Counts of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg, who combined their dominions of Bischofteinitz and Hostouň.

Since 1805 Hostouň was seat of a deanery. The church of Saint James the Elder, since 1384 mentioned as a parish, was remodelled in baroque style in 1731 and rebuilt after the great fire in 1877. A wood carved Madonna derives from the first half of the 15th century and is adored as the "Shrine of the Sorrowful Mother of God of Hostouň".

In 1915 an imperial military horse breeding operation of Galicia and Bukowina was transferred to Hostouň. During World War II parts of the famous Lipizzaner horses of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna were located in Hostouň. The breeding operation's administrative offices were housed in the former castle of the Prince of Trauttmansdorff in Hostouň. After the end of the World War II, the Lipizzaner horses were rescued by an adventurous combined operation of German and American soldiers.

Since the 16th century, there was a continuing inflow of German inhabitants. In 1930, the population of Hostouň consisted of 1,048 inhabitants – 160 Czechs, 8 foreigners and 880 German(-Bohemians). From 1938 to 1945, Hostouň was one of the municipalities in Sudetenland. In 1946 the Germans still were the major ethnic group in Hostouň. After the expulsion of its German population, Hostouň had 630 inhabitants in 1947. Additionally, Hostouň lost the rank of a town, which was restored in 2006.

• Sanctus Jacobus Major was first mentioned in written records in 1384 (IIn Decanatu Horsoviensi et in Archidiaconatu Horsoviensi). In 1731 the church was remodelled in Baroque style and was created a deanery in 1805.
• The Assumption Chapel (Assumptio Beatae Mariae Virginis) was built in 1936 as a chapel for the cemetery by a donation from Susanna Kleinschmidt.
• The Corpus Christi Chapel was erected with a donation from the Countess Kordula of Chudenitz, in honor of the miracle of consecrated hosts in Hostau during the 14th century. In 1805, the chapel was removed due to its decrepit conditions.
• The 18th century Baroque rectory was rebuilt after the great fire in 1877, which also destroyed 43 homes.
• The princely castle of the Trauttmansdorff family was built as a triangle and was a hunting lodge and later the seat of the widow, Princess Anne of Trauttmansdoff-Weinberg. From 1916 on the castle was used as part of a military horse breeding operation, then from 1918 as a regular stud farm. In the years 1942 to 1945 the Lipizzaner horses of the Spanish riding school were stationed here. Since 2004 the castle has been used as a juvenile jail.

Hostouň is twinned with:[2]

• Waldthurn, Germany

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hostouň (Domažlice District).

• Municipal website
• multilingual website about Hostouň's history