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History

Brief history of the City


​​​​​​​Pardubice boomed after 1491, when the town was bought by the mightiest nobleman and steward of the Czech Kingdom – Vilem of Pernstein. He chose Pardubice as the centre of his manor and started to build a town which corresponded to his status. Construction was so sumptuous that it coined the proverb “it glitters like Pardubice“. Today we can thank the Pernstein family for the beautiful historical centre with its renaissance square, which has been a town conservation area since 1964. Another work of the Perstein family is a unique conversion of the former castle into a comfortable palace surrounded by a massive fort. Another important milestone of Pardubice history was in 1845, when a train passed through Pardubice for the first time on the Prague-Olomouc track. The town became an important railway junction and with this came the development in agriculture, engineering and chemical industries. This naturally brought with it the development of social and culture life. In 1874, the world famous horse race The Great Pardubice Steeplechase took place here for the first time.
The Pardubice native Jan Kaspar was the first Czech aviator to successfully take off and land an aircraft in 1910.


​​​​​​​A year later he and his plane, the Bleriot, undertook the maiden flight from Pardubice to Prague – further contributing to Pardubice’s fame. Development of the town was stopped by the German occupation. The local resistance movement was influenced mainly by the parachute group Silver A, whose members – Czechoslovak soldiers sent to the protectorate from England – found in Pardubice and the surroundings help and shelter for maintaining connections between the home resistance movement and the foreign resistance movement. The assassination of the Reichs protector Reinhard Heydrich was thought to be connected with Silver A. As retribution, 194 Czech patriots were executed by the Nazi regime at the Zamecek execution site between 3 June and 9 July 1942. At present, Pardubice is proud not only of its long tradition in the area of horse racing and gingerbread making, but also the Golden Helmet speedway race, Junior tennis championship and many other events held during the year. Pardubice is proud to offer cyclists and horse back riders a dense and safe network of bike paths and tracks.

Photogallery

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Mayors and chairmen of the National Committee

  • 1850-1861 Kulhavý Peregrin
  • 1861-1862 Bubeník Josef
  • 1862-1867 Bubeník Václav
  • 1867 Kraus Josef
  • 1867-1869 Arnold Jan
  • 1869-1874 Černík Karel
  • 1874-1879 Bubeník Václav
  • 1879-1888 Werner Leopold
  • 1888-1889 Hoblík František
  • 1889-1893 Žák Jan
  • 1893-1899 Hoblík František
  • 1899-1906 Formánek Antonín
  • 1906-1910 Kuchynka František
  • 1910-1915 Prokop Josef
  • 1915-1918 Sochor Josef
  • 1918-1919 Kitzinger Eduard
  • 1919-1923 Vácha František
  • 1923-1932 Znojemský Vojtěch
  • 1932-1938 Frýba Jan
  • 1938-1942 Vítek Karel
  • 1942-1945 Stumpf Julius​​​​
  • 1945 Černohous Josef
  • 1945-1946 Kvaček Václav
  • 1946-1949 Havlíček Václav
  • 1949-1954 Půlpán Jaroslav
  • 1954 Kubelka František
  • 1954-1955 Zítek Jan
  • 1955-1957 Klouček Jiří
  • 1957-1964 Kárník Jan
  • 1964-1970 Sluka František
  • 1970 Klouček Jiří
  • 1971-1976 Kumeš Jindřich
  • 1976-1990 Šimon Jaroslav
  • 1990 Mikula Milan
  • 1990-1993 Stránský Zdeněk
  • 1993-1994 Demlová Hana
  • 1994-1998 Slezák Libor
  • 1998-2006 Stříteský Jiří
  • 2006-2010 Deml Jaroslav
  • 2010-2014 Fraňková Štěpánka
  • 2014-2022 Charvát Martin