A Concise History of Kutna Hora
1The history of Kutná Hora is closely linked with the mining of silver. The Kutná Hora silver mining district, abounding in silver ore, eventually became one of medieval Europe's largest sources of silver. Already in the late l3th century, one third of Europe's total production of silver came from Kutná Hora. The Prague groschen, one of Europe's strongest currencies of the time, began to be minted here.
2Thanks to its wealth, Kutná Hora became the second most important town of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and an economic, political, and cultural rival for the capital city Prague. The first recorded reference to a more systematic mining of the local deposits of silver ore dates from the second half of the l3th century. However, silver coins known as denars had been minted at the nearby Malín walled site, a residence of the Slavník family, as early as in the l0th century. It is highly probable that these coins were minted from the silver discovered in the surface layers of the deposits in Malín’s vicinity.
3In 1142, Bohemia's first Cistercian monastery was founded in neighbouring Sedlec by Miroslav of Cimburk, a nobleman from the circle around Prince Vladislav II. The monks arrived here from Valdsassen Abbey in the Upper Palatinate probably lured by the local silver ore deposits. The presumption is supported by the fact that theirs was one of the Morimon line of monasteries associated with mining activity, as well as by the fact that the Cistercian order, famed for its colonising efforts, decided to establish a monastery on land that had already been cultivated. Sometime around 1260, deposits of silver ore were discovered on the territory of the Sedlec monastery itself. By that time, silver had already been mined in Jihlava (from 1230).
4Legend has it that a monk named Antoň, having worked hard at the monastery vineyard, had a nap and when he woke up he saw that three rods of silver had sprouted up next to his head. He left his frock (or 'kutna' in Czech) on the spot to mark it and reported the discovery at the monastery.
5At the end of the reign of Přemysl Otakar II (1253-1278), the miners' village was named Cuthna Antiqua, or Old Kutna. The year 1290 saw people flocking to Kutna in a typical gold, or more precisely silver, rush with all the associated vices. Construction was rather chaotic and among the haphazardly erected wooden houses including taverns, baths, bread and meat shops stood the smelting workshops and the shafts. The miners' village gradually evolved into a wealthy royal town with many privileges.
6Around the year 1300, under the reign of King Wenceslas II, the royal mining law was issued, very modern for its time, and regulating all mining and related activity. According to the law, the King was entitled to a free use of the raw materials found on any plot of land, and granted permission for the opening of mines, exercised, through his officers, control over mining, and collected a mining tax.
7The issue of the royal mining law was coupled with a monetary reform. King Wenceslas II decided to mint a single coin that would be valid throughout the kingdom where different types of coins had been in use until then. The various local mints were replaced by a central one at Kutná Hora's Vlašský dvůr (Italian Court) and Kutná Hora became the chief support of the Bohemian rulers' economic power, and the second largest and most influential town of the Czech state after Prague.
8The development of a miners' village into a town was accelerated by the erection of what were at first only provisional fortification walls, built to protect the mines during the invasion of the Roman King Albrecht II set to take possession of them during his two expeditions against Bohemia's King Wenceslas II in 1304 and 1307. As the town quickly rose to glory, a number of beautiful churches and residences of the predominantly German patriciate sprang up. The administration of royal affairs was gradually handed over to these German aristocrats. The people in Kutná Hora's mining business soon became fantastically rich, catching up with the rural aristocracy.
9Although in the early 15th century, silver mining declined considerably, the town managed to retain its economic and political significance. Vlašský dvůr, frequently visited by Bohemia's King Wenceslas IV who liked to stay at the newly built palace, became the venue of major political events. This is where the Kutná Hora Decree regulating the representation of 'university nations' at Prague's Charles University in favour of the Czechs, and the Royal Edict calling for the people's disobedience of the Pope Gregory XII during the Great Schism had originated. During the troubled reign of Wenceslas IV, the king's brother, Hungarian King Sigismond, besieged the town, robbed Wenceslas's coffers, and collected a huge amount of money through racketeering.
10In the early 15th century, Kutná Hora became involved in the Hussite revolution. It witnessed the bloody struggle of the Catholics, represented by the German patriciate, and followers of the Hussite movement, with merciless killing engaged in by both sides. Some two thousand Hussites were thrown into the Kutná Hora mines. The town was burnt to ashes on two occasions: in 1422 by the retreating King Sigismond who tried to prevent the Hussites from exploiting the town’s mineral wealth, and two years later by the Hussite army of Jan Žižka. The operation of the mint discontinued and many mines were either flooded or filled with earth. Not only were the mines destroyed, but a part of the wealthy German population fled the town, and mining activity was paralysed. The Germans gradually began to be replaced by newly arriving Czechs.
11It took an immense effort to restore mining activity here and shifting it from the centre of the town to the new deposits discovered outside its limits. The town again became the scene of major political events and the economic support of the Kingdom of Bohemia. In 1448, George of Poděbrady, later a Utraquist King, was elected provincial administrator at an assembly at Vlašský doůr. In 1471, Vladislav of Jagellon, the eldest son of the Polish King Kazimierz, was elected King of Bohemia here.
12Under the reign of the Jagellon family (1471-1526), Czech culture gradually extricated itself from the isolation where it had been thrown during the Hussite revolt. Sumptuous Late Gothic structures were erected across the town. The construction of St. Barbara's Church was resumed after an interval of many years caused by the Hussite wars. The patrician house known as Kamenný dům (Stone House) and a rare polygonal fountain have been preserved from that time. The Renaissance slowly entered Kutná Hora. However, all this would be impossible without extensive silver mining. As the ore veins had to be looked for deeper and deeper, the available technology became unsuited to the needs. In the mid-16th century, the Kutná Hora mining district experienced a widespread recession. The Osel mine, the world's deepest at its time at 600 m, was shut down.
13At the turn of the 16th century, silver production in Germany grew substantially and huge amounts of silver also started to be imported from America. All this dealt yet another blow to Kutná Hora's mining. The crisis came to a head with the Thirty Years' War after which Kutná Hora altogether lost the character of a miners' town. Still in the course of the war, in 1626, the Jesuit order arrived in Kutná Hora. During its stay, the local population was re-Catholicised and many Baroque structures were erected here under the supervision of leading architects. However, Kutná Hora's change into a provincial town was unstoppable. Attempts to restore an intensive mining activity were undertaken in the following centuries but most of them proved futile.
14At the start of World War II, the German occupational authorities started to mine lead and zinc here. The two metals then continued to be mined in Kutná Hora until 1991, when the very last mine was closed down. Kutná Hora's lustre, stemming from silver mining, faded away long ago. Nevertheless, many corners, medieval lanes and major architectural monuments and works of art have been preserved across the town reminding of its former glory. This and the town’s eventful history have together made of Kutná Hora an attraction drawing crowds of Czech as well as foreign visitors.