History of Tabor – a look into the mirror of time

    "As the town he conquered was not encircled by walls, he chose a place near the same river, a place which was naturally protected by its location.... He built walls around it and ordered his people to build houses in the same way as they used to build tents" (The Czech Chronicle by Eneas Silvio Piccolomini)
    This is a quotation from a book by a chronicler who described the foundation of the town of Hradiste on Mount Tabor by the Hussite captain Jan Zizka. The primary function of the newly founded town - fortress was to protect its citizens against all enemies, and that was why it was built on a promontory above the confluence of the River Tismenicky and the River Luznice. The location of the town used to play a vital role in the life of its inhabitants, and in a way it is still true. The fortress-like layout has survived the long centuries and today it complicates the traffic situation.
The remarkable history of the town started in the spring of 1420 when a group of followers of the great Catholic reformer Jan Hus came here. Jan Hus was burned at stake as a heretic in Constance in Southern Germany as early as in the year 1415, nevertheless he can be considered a spiritual co-founder of the town. In the years 1413 and 1414, before his journey to Constance, Hus stayed and preached in the region of Kozi Hradek and Sezimovo Usti.- very close to the future Tabor. No wonder then that his ideas about religious and personal freedom had wide public acceptance in the south of Bohemia. The place his follower chose for their settlement was not only located near Hus's last place of work, but they also gave it a name that was in agreement with their teachings. The hill bore the biblical name Tabor, and here they hoped to turn their vision of a just society into reality. However, history took a different path, and the town soon became the power base of the Hussite movement. It played a vital role in politics, it had a strong economy, its own armed forces and it even had its own foreign policy. The citizens of Tabor did not respect the authority of the Czech King.
In 1437 Tabor became a royal town; the privilege was granted by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King Sigismund of Luxembourg. The town, however, went on ignoring the Czech King until the year 1452 when the town surrendered to the troops of the Governor of Bohemia, Jiri of Podebrady; only then the proud town acknowledged the king to be their master. It was the first time that the unique fortification system let the citizens of Tabor down.
The end of the 15th century brought peace and the town flourished. Tabor underwent a transformation from a military fortress into a real town, and the general features have not changed much ever since. Between the years 1440 and 1521 the town hall was built - a symbol of affluence and prestige of the town. The town hall was followed by the Church of the Lord’s Conversion on Mount Tabor and in 1492 the first artificial lake in Central Europe -the Jordan - was created by damming up the River Tismenicky. The lake provided a plentiful supply of water for the town citizens. The building boom in the historic centre went on in the 16th century; the only difference was that architects were influenced by a new style - the Renaissance. Unfortunately, numerous burgher houses, which were mostly built of wood, were destroyed by huge fires in the years 1532 and 1559. These tragedies caused a lot of pain and despair. On the other hand, they incited a new wave of building activity. At that time Tabor became a stone town whose burgher houses were richly decorated with sgraffito - ornamental drawn paintings scratched in plaster - which was typical of the Renaissance period. The construction of the net of underground tunnels, today one of the most attractive sights in the town, started in the 15th century and continued into the next one. First, only cellars were dug under houses in the Old Town. Afterwards many of the cellars were connected and created a complicated system of underground tunnels. Some of the tunnels running under the main square are open to the public.
In 1547 the town refused to send its troops to help the Czech King Ferdinand I in his campaign against German Lutherans. The King’s revenge was cruel - widespread confiscation of land - which had been the basis of the town’s prosperity. In 1618 Tabor refused its loyalty to the Habsburg Monarch again; this time the town joined an uprising organized by non-Catholic noblemen. But again their resistance cost them dearly. Three years later the town had to surrender to the imperial general Marradas, and his soldiers ruthlessly pillaged the town. Thirty years later the citizens were afflicted by a similar tragedy when they became victims of plundering by Swedish troops.
After the end of the Thirty Years' War the town enjoyed many peaceful years during which the ravages of war were slowly overcome. In the mid-17th century everyday life was changed by the arrival of the monastic order of Augustinians. They settled down in a new monastery which was built for them by the Italian architect Antonio de Alfieri. At the beginning of the 18th century another important structure was erected this time not in the town but in a nearby village. A Baroque pilgrimage church was constructed in the village of Klokoty. The complex of buildings was probably designed by the famous Baroque architect Jan Santini-Aichl. 
The Czech nation that nearly ceased to exist after so many years of Habsburg hegemony was reawakened in the 19th century. Czech towns started to thrive and Tabor was not an exception. In the 1860´s two prestigious schools were established in Tabor - a grammar school (the first in the Habsburg Monarchy where all subjects were taught exclusively in Czech) and a secondary school of agriculture. In the year 1878 another important cultural institution was founded – the municipal museum which supported the newly revitalised interest in the Hussite Era. Another wave of interest in the Hussite movement came after the establishment of the independent Czech State and did not die away until the German occupation in 1939. The tragic years that followed disturbed the life of the town. Like everywhere else in Europe, Jewish citizens were persecuted and the local Jewish cemetery was destroyed. 156 innocent people were executed in the suburb called Prazske predmesti; nowadays, there is a memorial commemorating the malicious Nazi deeds. 
The post-war period was characterized by territorial expansion, an increase in the number of inhabitants and by attempts to revitalize the cultural traditions of the town. The town has prospered also economically due to its location at the intersection of important roads connecting Prague with Ceske Budejovice and Linz, and Pisek with Pelhrimov and Brno. The town is a part of a conurbation consisting of three towns - Tabor, Sezimovo Usti and Plana nad Luznici. Tabor, with its 37,000 inhabitants, is the second largest city in South Bohemia, and the main city in the local district. 

Text: Zdeněk Vybiral

History of Tabor – a look into the mirror of time - Tabor – South Bohemia – Czech Republic

Tabor – a Hussite town, History of Tabor –a look into the mirror of time, Sights of Tabor, A small geographic atlas, Do not miss when in Tabor, Interesting places in the surroundings, In the footsteps of the Hussites, Glossary, Index

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