Středočeský kraj Central Bohemia region
Okres: Praha-východ district: Prague-East


Stará Boleslav

de: Altbunzlau
ru: Стара-Болеслав

Stará Boleslav (German: Altbunzlau) is situated at an elevation of 180 m on the right bank of the river Labe (Elbe), directly opposite of Brandýs nad Labem (Brandeis an der Elbe).

Around AD 900 a castle was founded at this place to protect the ford across the river. The castle later became the seat of the Přemyslide family, which produced four kings of Bohemia. The senior of the family always took his seat at Prague, while Boleslav became the home of younger brothers.

Stará Boleslav suffered heavily during the Hussite Wars (15th century), the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), and the Austrian-Prussian War (1757). In 1910 it received the status of a town. In 1960, Stará Boleslav and Brandýs nad Labem were merged into a single municipality, Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav.

2721 Stará Boleslav Stará Boleslav is the likely birth place of St. Wenceslaus (Duke Wenceslaus I, born c.903 or 905). Wenceslaus founded the castle at cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague and succeeded in expanding Bohemia towards the east. Because he subordinated Bohemia under the German crown of Heinrich I ('the Fowler') and because he promoted the christianization of Bohemia, which at that time was part of the diocese of Regensburg, he was assassinated here in 929 (935 according to other sources) by his pagan brother Boleslav I ('the Cruel'). Already in the second half of the 10th century Wenceslaus became venerated as a saint, and since the 11th century he is the patron saint of Bohemia. The Bohemian crown is named for him (although it was created only in the 14th century for the coronation of Wenceslaus IV). Since the year 2000 the feast day of St. Wenceslaus, the 28th of September, is a public holiday in the Czech Republic (Czech Statehood Day).

1820 Stará Boleslav The church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary [left, no. 2721; and right, no. 1820: background right] was constructed in 1617–1623 by Giovanni Maria Filippi, former court architect to Emperor Rudolph II, in place of an older church. It is one of the earliest Baroque churches in Bohemia. The north tower was built in 1675, the south tower was added by the famous architect Kilian Ignatius Dientzenhofer who, after 1728, modernized the whole structure in Baroque style. At the top of the gable there is an enlarged copy of a copper Marian relief of the Gothic period, which is kept in the choir of the church—the so-called Palladium (protection) of the Czech lands. According to the legend, this medallion was carried by St. Wenceslaus at the instant of his martyrdom. In 1668 the Jesuits founded their residence by the church, six years after this oldest pilgrimage place in Bohemia was connected with Prague by 44 chapels of the 'Holy Way'. During the Prussian-Austrian war in 1757 a battle took place right outside the church. The Prussian general Hartwig Carl von Wartenberg was killed inside the church and was buried in the crypt. A cannon ball was later set in the northern wall of the church as a remembrance of the battle.

3319 Stará Boleslav 3386 Stará Boleslav 0000 Stará Boleslav


Other places with similar names of which glasses are in this collection are:
Bolesławiec (PL) (Bunzlau)
Mladá Boleslav (CZ) (Jungbunzlau)

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