thumb|right|Prague, capital of the Czech Republic

thumb|right|Brno

thumb|right|Ostrava

thumb|right|Plzeň

In the Czech Republic, a statutory city () is a municipal corporation that has been granted city status by Act of Parliament. It is more prestigious than the simple title ' ("town"), which can be awarded by the cabinet and chair of the Chamber of Deputies to a municipality which applies for it.

Differences of statutory city

Statutory city status is partially ceremonial; the mayor is called ', rather than the ' of other municipalities. Statutory cities are allowed to subdivide into self-governing city boroughs (sg. ') or city parts (sg. ') with their own elected councils; such a statutory city has to issue a statute (') that delimits power to boroughs. However, only seven statutory cities have done so. Cities Brno, Plzeň, Ústí nad Labem and Pardubice are divided into city boroughs, and Liberec has only one city borough with rest of the city being administered directly. Brno is divided into city parts, and Opava has eight city parts with rest of the city being administered directly. Also the capital of Prague, while not being de jure statutory city, is subdivided into similar self-governing boroughs.

History

The model is derived from its common origin in Austria-Hungary. Until 1928, 11 cities in the Czech lands received the statutory city title: Prague, Liberec, Brno, Jihlava, Kroměříž, Olomouc, Uherské Hradiště, Znojmo, Opava, Frýdek, and Bielsko (which became a part of Poland in 1920). On 1 December 1928 their count was reduced to five (Prague, Liberec, Brno, Olomouc and Opava). In 1942 Plzeň became a statutory city.

Between 1949 and 1967, the institute of statutory cities was canceled by reform in self-government and the establishment of regions. Only Prague remained a de facto statutory city. After 1967, several cities received similar position as Prague (Brno, Plzeň, Ostrava and Ústí nad Labem), but the statutory city title was not used. and its four later amendments.

There are only two statutory cities, Havířov and Třinec, that are not seats of their eponymous districts.

List

Since August 2018, there are 26 statutory cities (plus Prague), comprising all the Czech cities over 40 thousand inhabitants (and Třinec):

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Name

! Population

! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)

! Region

! Statutory city since