Netolice - town of horses
Netolice is one of the oldest towns in Bohemia, the first mention of local buildings dates back to 981. The historic core is a town conservation area. Thanks to its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes from the southern regions and Passau to the interior of the Bohemian basin, the Netolice hill fortress on St. John's Hill became an important commercial and administrative centre of the entire region, where the princely administrator was based.
The original market settlement was established in the sub-castle around the Church of St. Wenceslas. Recently, archaeologists managed to find the remains of the walls here. After the foundation of the Golden Crown by King Přemysl Otakar II in the 13th century, Netolice became the property of this Cistercian monastery, or so it is written in the Chronicle of Kosmas. After the death of Přemysl Otakar II on the Moravian Field, the Vítkovs destroyed the monastery and plundered Netolice and the surrounding countryside.
The town flourished most during the reign of the Rosenbergs in the 15th and 16th centuries, when an important trade route to Austria led through the town. As elsewhere, the 30-year war had a negative impact on its long-term development, and in 1619 some of the houses were destroyed by a large-scale fire.
The dominant feature of Netolice is the town hall, built in 1869 on the plan of several original medieval houses. The town museum and the information centre are housed in the best-preserved Renaissance house on the square. This burgher house, known as the Rožmberk house, is said to have been used as accommodation for the Rožmberk owners and their guests in the 15th-16th centuries, before the construction of the Kratochvíle Castle.
Horses have always belonged to Netolice. The breeding of Netolice heavy draught horses is particularly famous, one of them is said to have been ridden by Jan Žižka of Trocnov. Nowadays, horses are bred in Netolice and in the surrounding area in several places.
In 1945 the Netolice stud farm was transferred to the state administrative estates. The former Schwarzenberg yards were used for breeding horses. The stud farm was used for breeding the powerful, powerful Czech Warmblood horse and the cold-blooded horse. In the 1990s, unfortunately, the Netolice stud farm was privatised, restitution claims were made and the breeding material was sold off to provincial breeding or abroad.
Something of the horses has remained here, however: the popular traditional Netolice races at the racetrack near the Kratochvíle castle, which is the last one in South Bohemia.
Additional information
Family members and personalities
- Štěpánek Netolický of Netolice (1470-1538) - local native of a serf family, Rozmberk huntsman, fišmistr and Třeboň governor, founder of the Czech fishery.
Our tip
In the local museum you will find the second largest collection of postcards in the Czech Republic after Pardubice.
Do you know that...
...the Netolice racecourse, founded in 1954, covers an area of 18 hectares and the green flat racing oval in the shape of an irregular ellipse is 1420 metres long? About half of the track is enclosed by hedges, and land reclamation in the 1970s ensured optimum soil flexibility for racing. Horses can be seen here on many private properties and farms?
