Jihlava

Jihlava grew on silver from the 1230s and the wealth shows in the plan: Masarykovo namesti covers about thirty-six thousand square metres, which puts it among the largest medieval squares in Europe, and the town's mining law, the Jihlava code, was copied across Central Europe. Under the centre run about twenty-five kilometres of cellars on three levels, dug for storage and connected over the centuries; a section is open as a guided route, and one passage has a patch of wall that glows faintly in the dark, an effect investigated and never fully explained. Gustav Mahler moved here as an infant in 1860 and grew up in the town; the family house is a museum and a Mahler festival runs each September. Jihlava also hosts the largest documentary film festival in Central and Eastern Europe each autumn.

History

Jihlava began around 1200 as a Slavic market village with a small church of St John the Baptist on a trade route; it is first mentioned in 1233, silver mining began in 1234, and the royal mining town was founded between 1233 and 1240, the oldest mining town in today's Czech Republic. The town spread to the right bank of the river, where Ottokar II's building rules of 1270 gave it its grid of streets round a large square; it had strong walls and a mint, settlers came from Bavaria, Saxony and other German lands, and it was the first town in Central Europe to codify mining law. When the richest ore was worked out at the end of the 14th century it turned to trade and crafts, especially cloth. A Catholic stronghold in the Hussite wars, it withstood several sieges, and on 5 July 1436 a treaty made here recognised Sigismund as king of Bohemia; in 1527 Ferdinand I swore here to uphold the rights of the Bohemian estates. A great fire in 1523 led to Renaissance rebuilding, and the Swedes twice took the town in the Thirty Years' War, after which it took more than a century to recover. In the second half of the 18th century Jihlava was the second largest cloth producer in the Austrian Empire; it spread beyond its walls, and its narrow gates were pulled down early in the 19th century (Wikipedia, Jihlava).

What to look for

• A thirty-six-thousand-square-metre square - among the largest medieval squares in Europe.
• Twenty-five kilometres of cellars - three levels beneath the town, part walkable.
• A glowing wall - a passage effect investigated and never explained.
• Mahler's childhood house - a museum, with a September festival.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Things to know

The catacombs are guided, cool and low. The glowing passage is a curiosity and does not always show. The documentary festival fills the town in late October. Museums close on Mondays.

Nearby

Telc is south-west; Zdarske vrchy are north-east.

Key facts