The oldest town in the Czech Republic: Uničov or Bruntál?

Czech heritage records · the oldest towns

“What is the oldest town in the Czech Republic?” gets at least three different answers online, and all can be true. It depends on what we measure: when a place received town rights, when we have a surviving charter, or when a chronicle first mentions it. Prague, Žatec and Litoměřice are mentioned centuries before Uničov, but at that time they were castles and hillforts, not towns in the legal sense.

We relied on town websites, Czech and English Wikipedia, Kudy z nudy and academic work on Uničov. Where sources disagree or are wrong, we say so.

What is a “town”?

In the Middle Ages a town was defined not by its size but by its rights. A ruler or nobleman granted it privileges: its own court, a market, the “mile right” (nobody else in the surrounding area could practise a craft or brew beer) and often walls. This act is called a foundation (lokace), and in the Czech lands most took place in the 13th century. Older hillforts and settlements with markets were important, but they were not yet towns in the legal sense.

Uničov: the oldest surviving town charter (1223)

Uničov in the Olomouc region was founded around 1213 by the Moravian Margrave Vladislaus Henry, brother of King Ottokar I. In 1223 the king issued a charter confirming the town's mile right, tolls, annual fair and town court, and granting it Magdeburg law. It is the oldest surviving town charter in the Czech Republic, as the town's website, Wikipedia, Kudy z nudy and academic literature agree. In 1234 King Wenceslas I extended the town's rights to include judicial, criminal and mining rights.

Uničov was expected to become a centre of ore and precious metal mining, but the deposits proved poor. It is still one of the Moravian royal towns. In 1770 Emperor Joseph II and King Frederick II of Prussia met here.

What you can see: the large Masaryk Square with the Marian column and town hall, the Gothic Church of the Assumption from the 14th century, and remains of the walls with the Medlov Gate and the Water Gate, which houses the town museum. The town hall grew out of a medieval market hall and was given its neo-Renaissance appearance in 1891.

Watch out for errors in sources: a 1976 academic article mistakenly names Ottokar II, but the charter was issued by Ottokar I, who reigned until 1230. And Kudy z nudy in one place attributes “the oldest founding charter” to Bruntál, although it was issued for Uničov.

Bruntál: the oldest institutional town

So why do so many sources name Bruntál? The Uničov charter of 1223 gives Uničov the same rights and customs that the burghers of Bruntál already had. Bruntál must therefore have been a town with Magdeburg law before Uničov, probably from around 1210 (English Wikipedia gives around 1213). Czech Wikipedia therefore calls it the oldest institutional town in what is now the Czech Republic, and English Wikipedia the first settlement with Magdeburg rights in the Czech lands. Paradoxically, Bruntál first appears in writing in the very charter for Uničov; its own founding charter has not survived.

There is one more “but”. Bruntál lies in historical Silesia, not in Moravia. So: depending on the interpretation, the oldest town in the Czech Republic is Bruntál or Uničov, and the oldest town in Moravia is Uničov.

What you can see: Míru Square with Renaissance and Empire houses, the chateau (now a museum), the Church of the Assumption and remains of the town walls. You will not find a building from the exact time of the town's founding, though; its beginnings are documented mainly by archaeological finds from the first half of the 13th century.

The earliest written mentions: Prague, Žatec, Litoměřice

If the question means “which present-day town is mentioned first”, the answer is quite different:

• Prague (965/966) – the Jewish merchant Ibrahim ibn Yaqub described a trading centre below the castle: “The town of Fraga is built of stone and lime.” It was a settlement below the castle, not a town in the legal sense. The Old Town received town rights only in the 1230s.
• Litoměřice (993 or 1057) – some sources give the earlier year based on the founding charter of Břevnov Monastery; in 1057 Prince Spytihněv II founded a chapter here.
• Žatec (1004) – mentioned by the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg. This is the best documented early mention of a Czech town outside Prague.
• Olomouc (1055) – according to the chronicle of Cosmas (English Wikipedia also gives 1017, without a source).
• Brno (1091) – Cosmas writes that King Vratislaus II besieged Brno castle.

The oldest royal towns in Bohemia

We found no explicit claim in two reliable sources that any town is “the oldest town in Bohemia”. Among the oldest founded royal towns, however, are:

• Litoměřice – town rights from Ottokar I in 1219 according to the town's website (Czech Wikipedia says between 1219 and 1228). The large Mírové Square was laid out after 1219. You can see the Old Town Hall with its Gothic core and the town walls.
• Hradec Králové – first recorded as a town (civitas) in 1225; the founding charter has not survived. It later became a dowry town of Czech queens. The Gothic Cathedral of the Holy Spirit dates from the early 14th century.

In Moravia and Silesia they are joined by Znojmo (1222–1226, the first royal town in southern Moravia) and Opava, first described as a town in a charter of Ottokar I in 1224. Brno received town privileges in 1243.

Kouřim: an ancient hillfort and the best preserved Gothic gate

Kouřim enters the debate because of the Stará Kouřim hillfort, settled from the 7th century and abandoned around 936. The present town, however, is a 13th-century foundation, first recorded as a town in 1261. It holds a different record: the Prague Gate from the second half of the 13th century is, according to Kudy z nudy and English Wikipedia, the best preserved early Gothic town gate in the Czech Republic. There is also the early Gothic Church of St Stephen and, nearby, remains of the older hillfort.

Table: the oldest towns in the Czech Republic

Trip ideas

The oldest towns in a day: Uničov and Bruntál are less than an hour apart by car. Masaryk Square in Uničov in the morning, Bruntál's chateau and Míru Square in the afternoon.

North-west Bohemia: Žatec, whose hop landscape is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Litoměřice are not far from each other.

We do not list opening hours of museums and monuments because they change. You will find them on the towns' websites.

More Czech heritage records

• The oldest town hall in the Czech Republic
• The oldest house in the Czech Republic, in Prague and in Brno
• The oldest castle in the Czech Republic
• The largest castle in the Czech Republic and the world
• The largest chateau in the Czech Republic
• The oldest church in the Czech Republic
• The oldest synagogue in Europe and the oldest monasteries in the Czech Republic
• The oldest bridge in the Czech Republic
• The oldest brewery in the Czech Republic

All records in one place: Czech heritage records.

END

Frequently asked questions

Information from the websites of Uničov, Litoměřice and Žatec, Czech and English Wikipedia, Kudy z nudy, P. Michna's article (Archaeologia historica 1976), R. Mahel's review (Paginae historiae 2022) and Prague 1 district; errors and contradictions in sources are marked in the text. Photographs from Wikimedia Commons. Lead photo: Masaryk Square in Uničov, V0lkanic, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.