Břeclav (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 25,000 inhabitants. The town is located on the Thaya River in the Lower Morava Valley, at the border with Austria and near the border with Slovakia. It is an important railway hub.

For a large part of its feudal history, Břeclav was owned by the Liechtenstein family. The town proper is surrounded by the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Administrative division

Břeclav consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):

  • Břeclav (14,764)
  • Charvátská Nová Ves (5,018)
  • Poštorná (4,536)

Etymology

The town's name is derived from the Czech name of the founder of the local castle, Duke Bretislav I. The former German name Lundenburg was probably derived from the name of a Slavic tribe which lived in the area.

Geography

thumb|Thaya River in the town centre

Břeclav is located about southeast of Brno, at the border with Austria. It borders the Austrian town Bernhardsthal. Břeclav lies about northwest of the Slovak border at Kúty and about north of the Austrian capital Vienna.

Břeclav lies in the Lower Morava Valley lowland in the warmest part of the country. The Thaya River flows through the town. There is wild thick riparian forest composed of deciduous trees in the southern part of the municipal territory.

History

6th–10th centuries

thumb|Archaeological site of Pohansko

The area was settled first by Slavic tribes in the 6th century. In the late 8th century, a large Slavic gord, today called Pohansko (meaning 'a paganish place'), was established southeast of today's town. In the 9th century, it became a significant centre of Great Moravia. An agricultural settlement probably existed in the area of Old Břeclav, and the gord served as a hiding place for its inhabitants. It was abandoned in the 10th century.

11th–15th centuries

After 1041, a border castle was established here by Duke Bretislav I. The first written mention of Břeclav is from 1046, when it was referred by its Latin name Bretyzlawe. In the second half of the 13th century, the castle was rebuilt to a massive Romanesque fortress. The castle often changed owners. At the beginning of the 15th century, it was acquired by the Liechtenstein family.

The post-war recovery was slow. In 1742, Břeclav was destroyed by a large fire. Until the 1830s, both Břeclav and Old Břeclav were insignificant agricultural small market towns and together had about 3,000 inhabitants. In 1836–1839, the railway from Vienna to Brno was built and the causing the start of the economic development. Lumber and food factories were established, and the population began to grow. In 1872, Břeclav was promoted to a town.

20th–21st centuries

thumb|Břeclav with a thin Czech speaking majority (marked red) according to a map from 1906

With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the area (including the neighbouring municipalities of Poštorná and Charvátská Nová Ves, which were mostly Czech speaking, but had been parts of Lower Austria until the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye) became part of newly independent Czechoslovakia. In 1919, three formerly separate municipalities merged (Břeclav, Old Břeclav and Jewish Municipality of Břeclav).

From 1938 to 1945, Břeclav was annexed by Nazi Germany. The Jewish community disappeared as a result of the Holocaust. After World War II, the German speaking population was expelled. In 1974, Poštorná and Charvátská Nová Ves were incorporated into the town. From 1976 to 2006, Ladná was also an administrative part of Břeclav.

Transport

The D2 motorway, linking Brno with the Czech-Slovak border and further with Bratislava, runs through the northern part of the town.

Břeclav railway station is an important hub in the railway network. It is located at the intersection of the routes to and from Brno–Prague, Ostrava–Kraków/Katowice (Poland), Kúty–Bratislava (Slovakia) and Hohenau an der March–Vienna (Austria). In addition, a local railway to Znojmo also branches out from the station. There is a rail border crossing Břeclav/Bernhardsthal to Austria.

Sport

Břeclav was known for the professional football club SK Tatran Poštorná. In 1995–2000, it played in the Czech National Football League. In 2012, it was dissolved. Today the town is home to the club MSK Břeclav, playing in lower amateur tiers.

A motorcycle speedway track existed in front of Břeclav Castle. It was constructed in the mid-1960s, but the racing ended due to a ban in 1975.

Sights

thumb|Church of Saint Wenceslaus

thumb|Pohansko Castle

The Břeclav Castle was rebuilt into its current neo-Gothic artificial ruins form in the first half of the 19th century. It was rebuilt by the Liechtensteins during the establishment of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape. Today it is owned by the town. One of its towers serves as an observation tower.

The parish Church of Saint Wenceslaus on the square Náměstí T. G. Masaryka is a contemporary architecture from 1992 to 1995 on the spot of a Baroque one destroyed in World War II. The second parish church is the Church of the Visitation of Our Lady in Poštorná. it is a unique neo-Gothic structure with a cupola built in 1895–1898 with use of special bricks from local factory. The former Jewish school (today called Liechtenstein's House) in the middle of the former Jewish ghetto serves as a main building of the town's museum and gallery.

The western and southern rural part of Břeclav lies in the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. One of its main features, located in Břeclav's territory, is the Apollo Temple. It was built by design of Joseph Kornhäusel in 1817–1819. In the Pohansko area is also the small Light Fortification Museum in a renovated bunker.

  • Andrychów, Poland
  • Brezová pod Bradlom, Slovakia
  • Lysá nad Labem, Czech Republic
  • Novi Vinodolski, Croatia
  • Priverno, Italy
  • Trnava, Slovakia

<!--Nový Bor, Šentjernej, Zwentendorf - not twinning-->

Břeclav also cooperates with Nový Bor in the Czech Republic, Šentjernej in Slovenia and with Zwentendorf in Austria.