OLMUTZ (Czech; Olomouc or Holomauc)

This article appears in Volume V20, Page 91 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: NUM-ORC

OLMUTZ (Czech; Olomouc or Holomauc) , a town of Austria, in Moravia, 67 m. N.E. of Briinn by rail. Pop. (1900) 21,933, of which two-thirds are Germans. It is situated on the March, and is the ecclesiastical metropolis of Moravia. Until 1886 Olmutz was one of the strongest fortresses of Austria, but the fortifications have been removed, and their place is occupied by a town park, gardens and promenades. Like .most Slavonic towns, it contains several large squares, the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

of which is adorned with a trinity column, 115 ft. high, erected in 1740. The most prominent church is the cathedral, a

Gothic

GOTHIC

building of the 14th century, restored in 18831886, with a tower 328 ft. high and the biggest church-bell in Moravia. It contains the tomb of King Wenceslaus III., who was murdered here in 1306. The Mauritius church, a fine

Gothic

GOTHIC

building of the 15th century, and the St Michael church are also worth mentioning. The principal secular building is the town-

hall

, completed in, the 15th century, flanked on one side by a Gothic chapel, trans-formed now into a museum. It possesses a tower 250 ft. high, adorned with an astronomical clock, an artistic and famous

work

WORK

, executed by Anton Pohl in 1422. The old university, founded in 1570 and suppressed in 1858, is now represented by a theological seminary, which contains a very valuable library and an important collection of manuscripts and early prints. 0lmutz is an important railway junction, and is the emporium of a busy mining and industrial

district

DISTRICT

. Its industries include brewing and distilling and the manufacture of malt, sugar and

starch

STARCH

.
Olmutz is said to occupy the site of a Roman fort founded in the imperial period, the

original

ORIGINAL

name of which, Mons Julii, has been gradually corrupted to the present form. At a later period Olmutz was long the

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

of the Slavonic kingdom of Moravia, but it ceded that position to Briinn in 164o. The Mongols were defeated here in 1241 by Yaroslav von Sternberg. During the Thirty Years' War it was occupied by the Swedes for eight years. The town was originally fortified by Maria Theresa during the wars with Frederick the

Great

GREAT

, who besieged the to nn unsuccessfully for seven weeks in 1758. In 1848 Olmutz was the scene of the emperor Ferdinand's abdication, and in 185o an important conference took place here between Austrian and German statesmen. The bishopric of Olmutz was founded in 1073, and raised to the rank of an archbishopric in 1777. The bishops were created princes of the empire in 1588. The archbishop is the only one in the Austrian empire who is elected by the cathedral chapter.
See W. Muller, Geschichte der koniglichen Flauptstadt Olmiitz (2nd ed., (Mmutz, 1895).

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