Příbram (; or Przibram) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Litavka River in the Brdy Highlands.
Příbram is the third-largest in the Central Bohemian Region (behind Kladno and Mladá Boleslav), and is a natural administrative and cultural centre of the southwestern part of the region, although it also tends to be largely influenced by the proximity of Prague. The town is known for its mining history, and more recently, its new venture into economic restructuring.
The Svatá Hora pilgrimage site above the town is the oldest and most important Marian pilgrimage site in Bohemia. Příbram is also known for the Mining Museum Příbram.
Administrative division Příbram consists of 18 municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):
Příbram I (2,461) Příbram II (2,088) Příbram III (3,486) Příbram IV (1,650) Příbram V-Zdaboř (3,919) Příbram VI-Březové Hory (1,704) Příbram VII (10,135) Příbram VIII (4,209) Příbram IX (341) Brod (111) Bytíz (24) Jerusalem (100) Jesenice (46) Kozičín (233) Lazec (287) Orlov (311) Zavržice (43) Žežice (563)
Bytíz forms an exclave of the municipal territory.
Etymology The name is derived from the personal name Heinricus Pribrami and originally meant "Pribrami's (court)".
Geography
Příbram is located about southwest of Prague. It lies in the Brdy Highlands. The highest point of the municipal territory is the hill Vojna at above sea level. A dominant feature of the town centre is the hill Svatá hora at above sea level.
The town is situated mostly on the right bank of the Litavka River. The stream Příbramský potok flows through the town and feeds a set of fishponds in the town centre.
History
13th–15th centuries The first written mention of Příbram is from 1216, when the nobleman Hroznata of Teplá sold Příbram to Ondřej, bishop of Prague. Soon the settlement became a market town with a church. Příbram was devastated during the disturbances in the second half of the 13th century. The Bishopric of Prague invited new settlers to the market town and a period of prosperity began.
The castle in Příbram was built by order of Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice. New villages were founded in the vicinity of Příbram, and were administered from the castle. In the 15th century, the majority of the population was Czech, but there were also Germans who came to the area around the market town to mine silver. During the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), Příbram stood on the reformation side. After the war, it ceased to be church property and was acquired by the king, who pledged it to his creditors. However, the temporary administrators were not interested in the development of the market town, which meant a gradual decline. In 1497, Příbram was promoted to a town by Vladislaus II.
16th–19th centuries
At the beginning of the 16th century, silver mining began to develop and the mining settlement Březové Hory was established. In the mid-16th century, the mining declined. This lasted until 1579, when Emperor Rudolf II promoted Příbram to the royal mining town. Since then, the town of Příbram prospered, but the settlement of Březová Hora remained insignificant.
The Thirty Years' War had a large impact on Příbram, lowering the population and causing violent recatholicization that was supported by the growing importance of Svatá Hora, nearby the pilgrimage site. The town did not recover until the end of the 17th century, when iron ore mining developed.
Silver mining continued but was not very profitable, so Příbram gave up the majority of its mining profit share over in favor of central government in Vienna. This turned out to be a mistake, as in the 18th century Příbram became the site of the most profitable silver mining in the entire Habsburg monarchy. The town became the seat of the central mining institutions and, in the mid-19th century, also the mining academy. Peak prosperity lasted until the 1880s, after which it stagnated until the end of the 19th century. In 1897, Březové Hory was promoted to a royal mining town. The importance of Příbram mines declined after 1900, but the town's reputation as the educational and cultural centre remained high.
20th century In the 1920s, uraninite mining expanded dramatically, bringing increased investment and growth in the town.
Region with strong partisan resistance was around Příbram during World War II. Several prominent citizens participated in the resistance, and many were killed by Nazi occupiers. Student Antonín Stočes, his father, and Příbram's gymnasium director Josef Lukeš were executed in Tábor in 1942 following the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich. Their story was idealized in Jan Drda's fiction Higher Principle.
In 1953, the towns of Příbram and Březové Hory were merged.
The last epoch of Příbram mining occurred since the 1950s, when the district was opened again for uraninite mining and several mines around the town were opened. The industry was included into a program of penal labour that communist Czechoslovak government used for persecution of regime objectors. Labor camps Příbram-Vojna and Příbram-Brody were run there in 1949–1951, holding up to 800 detainees. In 1976 and in 1980, many surrounding municipalities were annexed to Příbram, increasing the total population to more than 35,000 citizens.
Located near the Brdy military area, Příbram was an important locality during the 1968 Occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces. The army command in Příbram was labeled a "focus of contrarevolution" in the Czechoslovak Army, as it did not cooperate with the occupation forces and harboured the Czechoslovak Television during its independent broadcasting. The rioting of Příbram-Bytíz crime prisoners and the strike of Příbram miners were the other major events related to the August 1968 invasion.
The 1989 Velvet Revolution influenced Příbram significantly. Large mining enterprises, old silver and lead mines as well as modern uranium ore mines, were closed, but new opportunities opened up for the town and the economy diversified.
Demographics
Economy Příbram's economy was determined by the mining industry and supplying companies for hundreds of years. At the end of the 1980s, when the mining was slowly derogating, the basic Příbram corporations included Český státní uranový průmysl (), Rudné doly () and suppliers such as ZRUP – Základna rozvoje uranového průmyslu () and others.
After 1989, the economy restructured because of the closure of mines and privatisation. The nationwide important branch office of state enterprise Diamo is the successor of the Uranium Mines; the office is named Administration of Uranium Deposits (Správa uranových ložisek). Several of the supplying companies continue their activities under new owners.
The largest employer based in the town is the hospital. There is no large industrial enterprise in Příbram today, but many medium-sized enterprises are located here. The largest industrial employer is Ravak, which is the biggest producer of baths and shower-baths in central and eastern Europe.
The District Economic Chamber Příbram was founded in 1993.
Transport The state road I/18 (from Rožmitál pod Třemšínem to Votice) runs through the town. The D4 motorway runs east of the town and bypasses the Bytíz exclave.
Intratown transport is run by Arriva Střední Čechy, s.r.o. company. The bus terminal is located next to the railway station, the busiest hub for town buses is, however, located in the Jiráskovy sady near the Pražská street.
Příbram is located on the railway line of supraregional importance from Prague to České Budějovice, and on the railway line of regional importance from Beroun to Blatná.
The Příbram airfield (ICAO airport code LKPM) is located outside of the municipal territory in Dlouhá Lhota, northeast of Příbram. It is a recreational aerodrome.
Culture
Thanks to the high level of education and cultural life in the town, Příbram was nicknamed Podbrdské Atény ("Athens below Brdy") at the end of the 19th century. The town's culture was then largely influenced by the mining industry, which went on until the 1980s.
The town library was opened in 1900. It has been located in its current building since 1984 and bears the name of Jan Drda, who is the most famous writer born in Příbram.
The A. Dvořák Theatre in Příbram was founded in 1959. It is a permanent scene with a professional ensemble. The House of Culture, which hosts the theatre, was built in 1957–1959. Today it is protected as a cultural monument.
In 1969, the annual Antonín Dvořák Music Festival was founded in Příbram. It has both domestic and foreign participation and each year consists of 13–15 concerts. The festival is named after the composer Antonín Dvořák, who is connected with the region and whose works often appear in the festival program.
Příbram is known for the Příbram Children Choir. It was founded in 1939 by Antonín Vepřek.
The František Drtikol Gallery seats in the Zámeček-Ernestinum building and offers permanent exhibition of František Drtikol. Drtikol, a native of Příbram, was the first Czech photographer to gain world recognition during his lifetime. The gallery displays his work from 1901 to 1935.
Education Příbram was the site of the Mining University, the tradition of which still continues today however the institution was moved to Ostrava in 1945.
With the removal of the Mining University, Příbram lost the status of university town. In the 1990s, the town authorities aspired for the status again. In 2005 the College of European and Regional Studies () with seat in České Budějovice opened its affiliate in Příbram, with 30 students in the courses.College of European and Regional Studies news webpage (in Czech)
High schools offer in Příbram includes two gymnasiums, technical school, business academy, medical school and training college. Gymnasium Příbram was founded 1871 and serves as a general educational propaedeutics institutions for applicants for university studies. The Pod Svatou Horou gymnasium was founded in the 1990s. The technical school was derived from the preliminary courses of the Mining University, so called Mining School, founded already in 1851. In 2006 the school had 564 students.Technical school Příbram history webpage (in Czech)
Seven elementary schools are in Příbram, six of them with traditional educational program (the number was reduced by two in the 1990s). The remaining one, found in 1991, stands on the Waldorf education program and it has also opened its own high school.
The town has 13 kindergartens and runs also two musical and art schools.
Mining University in Příbram (1894–1945)
Mining education in Příbram dates from the beginning of the 19th century. The School of Mines was founded in 1851 and it was changed to Mining Academy in 1865. It was then the only mining educational institution in the Czech lands. The academy struggled in the shadow of Leoben academy, which repeatedly obtained its privileges in advance.
Important professors and lecturers of this era include: Geologist František Pošepný: one of the most important educators in the 19th century and of all the school's history; Mine surveyor () Gustav Ziegelheim: Professor for mining, ore processing and mine surveying as of 1882, Director of the School of Mines in 1883–1885 and in 1889–1895.H. G., Professor Gustav Ziegelheim (Nekrolog). In: Österr. Zs. f. Berg- und Hüttenwesen, 23 (1904), pp. 105–106
In 1894, the academy received its university status decree and A. Hoffmann was elected the first chancellor of the university in 1898.