Most (city)

Lookout tower of the rebuilt Hněvín

The Latin Chronica Boemorum mentions a Slavic settlement below the Hněvín Castle called Gnevin Pons (Hněvínský Bridge) in 1040. Through the swamps there led a merchant route from Prague to Freiberg. The network of wooden bridges was built to provide comfortable passages through this territory. Hneva from the Hrabišic dynasty established a military stronghold to protect caravans. Under this stronghold, the village that would become Most developed.

In 1227 Kojata, the last of the Hrabišics, passed his property to the cloister of the Knights of the Cross. Between 1238–1306 the town was part of the territory possessed by the Přemyslids and it became rich with many churches. The mid-13th century saw the beginning of substantial German immigration as King Ottokar II sought to replace losses from the Mongol invasion of eastern Europe in 1241. Germans settled throughout and primarily along the northern, western, and southern borders of Bohemia, although many lived in towns like Brüx, where they were the majority population, throughout the kingdom. The Bohemian kings Ottokar II, John of Bohemia, and Charles IV all granted city rights to Brüx.

In 1526 Bohemia became a part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, designated as Crown lands and the city became head of the Brüx District, one of the 94 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Bohemia. Following the Austria-Hungary compromise of 1867 it remained part of Austrian Bohemia.[2]

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the city was hit by several fires. In circa 1530, city reconstruction began with the foundations of several significant facilities, including the new dean's church and the Renaissance city hall.

During the Thirty Years' War, the city was occupied by Swedish troops. Both in the early years and in the last years of the war, it was captured by stratagem. In a similar manner the castle Hněvín was captured. After the Thirty Years' War, the city lost much of its economic and political significance.

In the second half of the 19th century, industry and mining emerged, and in 1870, a railway line was built. Construction included sugar works, porcelain factory, steel works, brewery, and the founding of a city museum. In 1895 the city was affected by quicksand that swallowed several houses, including some of their occupants.

In 1900 the textile industry RICO plant was erected. In 1901, an electric tramline linked Most with Litvínov's administrative parts of Kopisty and Janov u Litvínova. The construction (1911–1914) of the Janov dam at Křížatky solved the city's supply of drinking water.

In 1905 Most had a population of 21,500 people and the most modern theatre of its time within Austria-Hungary, built in 1910 and designed by Viennese architect Alexander Graf, was opened in Most in 1911.[3]

The 1919–1920 Peace Treaties that ended World War I created a new state from the territories of the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia) and of Slovakia. This new confederation was called Czechoslovakia, and Most was within the borders of the new state.

According to the 1930 census, there were 28,212 citizens living in Most (9,740 people of Czechoslovak ethnicity, 17,549 German, 33 Russian and 154 Jewish).[4]

Under the Munich Agreement in 1938, using the census-based Völkerkarte Mitteleuropas ethnicities map of 1937, it was found that Most fell within the ethnic German-speaking zone which would become part of the Sudetenland districts to be separated from Czechoslovakia. From 1938 until 1945, the city was administered as a part of the Regierungsbezirk Aussig of Reichsgau Sudetenland.

On 15 December 1942, Most began output of Ersatz fuel synthesized from lignite at the Sudetenländische Treibstoffwerke AG (STW) Maltheuren plant,[5][6] and a subcamp of Sachsenhausen provided forced labor. Stalag IV-C (Wistritz bei Teplitz) was at the "Sudentenland Treibstoff Werke",[7] and Most was repeatedly bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II.

In May 1945 Most was restored to Czechoslovakia. Shortly afterwards, the German population was expelled. The city was renamed to its Czech language name of Most, and a degree of resettlement by Czechs took place.

In 1964, the Most Coal Company began the demolition of the historical old town of Most in order to make room for the expanding lignite mines in the area. Financed and led by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia, the company pulled down the town's historic buildings including a brewery dating from the 15th century and the 1910 theatre. New low-cost, standardized, multifamily housing projects were built (paneláky, in reference to the precast concrete panels from which they were made). In the summer of 1968, an American film company shot scenes for the war film The Bridge at Remagen in the town; the clearance work providing realistic looking war-damaged properties.[8] The demolition work ended in 1970.[9]

Although the old town was flattened, the Communist authorities decided to preserve the Gothic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The entire building, which was built between 1517 and 1594 and designed by Jakob Heilmann of Schweinfurt, was moved by train to the newly constructed town 2,759 feet [841 meters] away. The move took 28 days to complete at the rate of roughly 98 feet [30 meters] per day. The Czechoslovak government took pride in the relocation of this religious structure, and the building was mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest building ever moved on wheels.

Today most Czechs consider the decision to demolish Most as a destruction of Bohemian history and culture. Nevertheless, the redevelopment of the new town opened a new industrial era and opportunities in the area. Labor mobility drew skilled and unskilled labor to the mining and construction sectors in Most making it one of the busiest regions in Czechoslovakia.