Chomutov and surroundings
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Chomutov (334m above sea-level, river Chomutovka). The Royal Town of Chomutov lies at the foot of the Krušné Mountains near the German border.
The origins of the town date back to the 10th or 11th century, when a small Slavic settlement was founded on the important road from Lipstadt to Prague. The first preserved historical references to Chomutov date from 1252, when Bedřich Načeradec from Chomutov gifted the town to an order of German knights. In their hands it became the centre of the North Bohemia Dominion and the seat of the provincial commander. In 1605 on St. George's Day the town freed itself from selfdom by the last payment and became a Royal Town. To celebrate this event the magnificent Chomutov Festival is held every years over the weekend following St. George's Day. One of its main attractions is a medieval town with more than 50 craftsmen, knights tournaments, musicians and magicians.
Chomutov is an important centre with lots of sights of historical interest. The town centre has kept its medieval lay out, which is typical for a former merchant town and 1.máje Square is interesting mainly for the burgher houses and their archways. The most valuable historical sight in Chomutov is the Church of St. Catherine, which is one of the oldest early Gothic buildings in Europe. It was built after 1252 in the place of an old manor church as a monastic church of the German knight order commendam. A nave and a choir from the middle of the 13th century have been preserved until this time. The commendam was later turned into a renaissance castle that serves as both the Town Hall and exhibition rooms of the National History Museum today. The town tower - the town's dominant feature - was built in 1525 as an extension to the originally gothic Church Of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary from 1516. The tower has been rebuilt several times with the latest reconstruction in the neogothic style dating back to 1874 and today it accommodates an exhibition dedicated to the town's history. The Jesuit grounds consist of the early-baroque Church of St. Ignatius with a two-tower north front (the church was built between 1663-1668 by Italian C. Lurago), the Špejchar building, the original Jesuit church from 1611 (today The Town Gallery), a former Jesuit College (today the Centre of Librarian and Cultural Services) and the Jesuit High School, where a permanent exhibition of the Regional Museum can be found today.
It is not only its historical riches that Chomutov can be proud of. The biggest zoopark in Europe - Podkrušnohorský zoopark - attracts visitors all year round. In a uniquely structured natural enviroment stretching across an area of nearly 120 hectares more than 130 animal species are kept and visitors can also enjoy rides in the first Eurosafari park in the Czech Republic. The Kamencové Lake complex also becomes a tourist attraction in summer. The lake was created by flooding alum mines and it is the only example of its kind in the world. The lake water composition rules out all organic life except for protozoans and is beneficial for health. The Bezruč Valley nature park is another significant area of interest for holidaymakers. It is directly linked to the urban development area and the valley is the deepest, longest and also the most beautiful valley of the Krušné Mountains.