Olomouc

Sister cities

• Pécs
• Tampere
• Lucerne
• Florence
• Veenendaal
• Owensboro
• Nördlingen
• Antony
• Kunming
• Subotica
• Treptow-Köpenick
• Volzhsky

History

As early as the 7th century, a gord of the early Slavs developed in the present-day quarter of Povel. It was probably an administrative centre of a larger unit. Povel is considered one of the three most important Moravian localities of the early Middle Ages. In the early 9th century, the gord was conquered and completely disappeared. A new centre, where the Great Moravian governor resided, developed at the gord at Předhradí, a quarter of the inner city (the eastern, smaller part of the medieval centre). This settlement survived the defeat of the Great Moravia (c. 907) and gradually became the capital of the province of Moravia. The bishopric of Olomouc was founded in 1063. It was possibly re-founded because there are some unclear references to bishops of Moravia in the 10th century—if they were not only missionary bishops, but representatives of some remains of regular church organization, then it is very likely that these bishops had their seat in Olomouc. Centuries later in 1777, it was raised to the rank of an archbishopric. The bishopric was moved from the church of St. Peter (since destroyed) to the church of Saint Wenceslaus in 1141 (the date is still disputed, other suggestions are 1131, 1134) under bishop Jindřich Zdík. The bishop's palace was built in the Romanesque architectural style. The bishopric acquired large tracts of land, especially in northern Moravia, and was one of the richest in the area. Olomouc became one of the most important settlements in Moravia and a seat of the Přemyslid government and one of the appanage princes. In 1306 King Wenceslas III stopped here on his way to Poland. He was going to fight Władysław I the Elbow-high to claim his rights to the Polish crown and was assassinated. With his death, the whole Přemyslid dynasty died out.…

Geography

Olomouc is located about northeast of Brno and southeast of Prague. It lies mostly in a flat fertile land of the Upper Morava Valley. The eastern spur of the municipal territory (the villages of Lošov, Radíkov and Svatý Kopeček) extends into the Nízký Jeseník range and includes the highest point of Olomouc, a hill at above sea level. The Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area extends into the territory of Olomouc in the north. The Morava River and the stream of Mlýnský potok, which is a branch of the Morava, flow through the city. The Bystřice flows into the Morava at the city centre. The Oskava briefly forms the northern municipal border, before it joins the Morava. Lake Chomoutovské jezero, located in the northern tip of the municipal territory, was created by flooding a gravel quarry and has an area of . Together with the immediate surroundings, it is protected as a nature monument. The lake is an important stop for migratory birds and is home to one of the largest colonies of black-headed gulls and Mediterranean gulls in the country. Olomouc's climate is classified as humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb; Trewartha: Dcbo). Among them, the annual average temperature is , the hottest month is July with a mean daily temperature , and the coldest month is January with . The annual precipitation is , of which July is the wettest with , while February is the driest with only . The extreme temperature throughout the year ranged from on 11 February 1929 to on 3 and 8 August 2013.