Since the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the free parliamentary elections have been held five times in the Czech Republic. In 1990, the Civic Forum received clear majority of 50 to 57 per cent of votes in Příbram. In 1992, rightist coalition of Civic Democratic Party and Christian Democratic Party (KDS) won in Příbram with a total of 25 to 34.8%. Both times the deputies in three parliament chambers were elected. Since 1996, the Czech Social Democratic Party won in Příbram, starting with 30% of votes in 1996 and between 34.3 and 36.8% in 1998, 2002 and 2006; with Civic Democrats in second place all times. In 2010 elections Social Democrats won ahead of Civic Democrats once again, but they got only 24.7%.^[4]

City of Příbram is the center of Příbram electoral district for the Senate elections. Social Democrat Zdeněk Vojíř won the seat in 1996 in the second round, but he lost the seat to Civic Democrat Jaromír Volný in 2002. The results in city itself were comparable to the overall district results both times.

Economy

Příbram's economy was determined by the mining industry and supplying companies for hundreds of years. At the end of the 1980s, when the mining was slowly derogating, the basic Příbram corporations included the Uranium Mines ({{lang-cs|Uranové doly}} full name Czech State Uranium Industry {{lang-cs|Český státní uranový průmysl}}), the Ore Mines ({{lang-cs|Rudné doly}}) and suppliers like ZRUP ({{lang-cs|Základna rozvoje uranového průmyslu}} {{lang-en|Base of Uranium Industry Development}}) and others. Also the Hamiro company was located in Příbram,

After 1989, the economy restructured because of the closure of mines and privatization. The nationwide important branch office of state enterprise Diamo is the successor of the Uranium Mines, the office is named the Administration of Uranium Deposits ({{lang-cs|Správa uranových ložisek}}). Several of the supplying companies continue their activities under new owners. The list of the Příbram's biggest companies follows:

• ZAT, a. s. – production of control systems for power engineering and industry;
• ZRUP, a. s.^[5] – prefab buildings production;
• DISA Industries, s.r.o. – production of shot blasting equipment;
• Kovohutě Příbram nástupnická, a. s. – recycling and production of lead and precious metals;
• Halex-Schauenberg – steel buildings and steel construction;
• Vibros, s.r.o. – production of surface vibrators and vibrating machines;
• Průzkum Příbram, s.r.o. – mining and geological works;
• Ravak int. – the biggest producer of baths and shower-baths in middle and eastern Europe;
• Yoko, s.r.o. – plush toys;
• Stella Ateliers, s.r.o. – production of bed linen.

Several food industry companies or affiliates have also larger than regional importance (baking industry, beverages, meat-packing). Many services or trading companies have their seat in Příbram.

The District Economic Chamber Příbram was found in 1993.

Despite the development of Příbram enterprises, the unemployment in city and close surroundings stays high on 8.8 per cent^[6] in July 2006 – higher than in other parts of former Příbram district and over average in the Central Bohemian Region.

Transport

Road transport

Příbram is located near a crossroads of a national road #18 (from Rožmitál pod Třemšínem and Votice) and the R4 expressway, which was modernized in the 1980s to a highway type road between Příbram and Prague; it heads south to Strakonice and Vimperk in the opposite direction, and in Germany is connected to road number 2 to Munich via Passau.

Příbram has an extensive system of bus connections to nearby villages and cities as well as to Prague and more distant Czech cities. Direct lines however connect Příbram also to Slovakia cities, like Poprad or Košice.

Intra-city transport is run by Connex Příbram company. The system includes 15 bus lines numbered 1 to 16 (number 13 is empty). Connex Příbram uses buses Karosa (B731, B732, B932 or B952) and SOR (B 9.5 and BN 12). Basic line no. 2 has regular 10-minutes interval (5 minutes in rush periods), other lines periodicity varies down to several buses per day.

The Bus terminal is located next to the railway station, the busiest hub for city buses is however located in the Jirásek Parks ({{lang-cs|Jiráskovy sady}}) near the Pražská street.

Railroad transport

Railroad from Zdice to Protivín, which runs directly through Příbram, was built in 1875. The train is now used especially for short-distance commutating. České Budějovice or Most are available direct by the Bezdrev fast train. The railway station is also important for goods and cargo transport.

Airplane transport

The Příbram airport (ICAO airport code LKPM), located {{convert|6|km|0|abbr=on}} away north-east of Příbram at Dlouhá Lhota, is a civil airport with a daylight operation on one {{convert|1.45|km|0|abbr=on}} long runway.

Landmarks and places of interest

Svatá Hora monastery and St. Jacob church are dominants of the city's panorama. Old town has the following landmarks:

• Svatá Hora – baroque church and monastery at a pilgrimage site, connected to the city with unique roofed stairs;
• Tomás Garrigue Masaryk Square:
  • the St. Jacob church (found 1298, baroque aisle, 19th century neo-gothic tower),
  • former court building (decorated with sgraffiti from Mikoláš Aleš mining drawings),
  • city library and other historic buildings;
• City Hall – neo-renascence building from 1890, architect Václav Ignác Ulmann;
• Zámeček-Ernestinum – castle found in the 14th century, later archbishop residence, now culture centre, original gothic bay
  • memorial of victims of World War I, statue of archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice (sculptor Ivar Kodym);
• Pražská street – precinct with shops and restaurants, on the top end, the St. Wenceslas square ({{lang-cs|Václavské náměstí}}) is located with [https://web.archive.org/web/20141109192014/http://www.hanzik.info/#!Christ-Hanzik-S-2000/zoom/c1n0f/image1mnv a statue "St. Wenceslas" (in Czech sv. Vaclav)]] of the granit-diorit (1998, sculptor prof. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141109192014/http://www.hanzik.info/ Stanislav Hanzik]);
• Jiráskovy sady ({{lang-en|Jirásek Parks}}) – the park in the center of the old town, surrounded by historical buildings:
  • the konvikt (ecclesiastical school), former mining academy rectorate or Příbram district office, architect V. I. Ulmann,
  • statue memorial to Alois Jirásek literature work (sculptor Václav Šára), bust of general Richard Tesařík;
• Příbram cemetery – graves of many Příbram natives, memorial of 1892 St. Mary mine disaster victims (the duplicate one is located in the Zdaboř cemetery), memorial of the Red Army World War II victims;
• Antonín Dvořák bust on the Dvořák Front ({{lang-cs|Dvořákovo nábřeží}}).

In new city, built after 1945, you can find:

• House of Culture – built 1959, architect V. Hilský, house of Příbram theatre,
  • near is statue of Antonín Dvořák (sculptor Josef Wagner);
• statue of Miner (sculptor L. Lošák) at the Příbram gymnasium

In Březové Hory you can find:

• Five historical mines and other buildings of the Mining Museum Příbram;
• St. Adalbert church – neo-renascence, built 1889;
• St. Prokop church – found on a place of old wooden campanile in the 18th century;
• church of Master Jakoubek of Stříbro Charge – built 1936.

Culture

Due to the notable levels of education and cultural interactions in the city, Příbram was nicknamed Brdy Athens ({{lang-cs|Podbrdské Athény}}) at the end of the 19th century. The city's culture was then largely influenced by the mining industry, which went on until the late 20th century.

Mining life was described by poets and writers Fráňa Kučera, Quido Maria Vyskočil and František Gellner, who lived or studied in Příbram. Many books by Příbram's most famous writer, Jan Drda, were inspired by Příbram and he used the names of the city's neighbouring villages in his tales. Some of the stories in his Němá barikáda ({{lang-en|Silent Barricade}}) have their origin in Příbram (especially Vyšší princip – see Modern History) while his Městečko na dlani ({{lang-en|City on Palm}}) describes Příbram directly, although reality is distorted there by having a river flowing through the city, which is named Rukapáň ({{lang-en|God’s Hand}}) in the book.

The city library was opened in 1900.

The theatre in Příbram has a long history thanks to a long tradition of theatricals. During the struggle to build the permanent theatre stage, the plays had to be performed in different halls for a long time, especially in the Sokolovna, the hall of Příbram Sokol. In 1959 the House of Culture ({{lang-cs|Kulturní dům}}) was built, which hosts the Příbram theatre and includes a cinema hall (the only other cinema is the open-air stage, while two pre-1989 more cinema-halls were closed). The first cinema productions were however held in Příbram as early as in 1914. The Příbram theatre is a permanent scene with a professional ensemble, its repertory is enriched by regular on-tour performances by Prague's and other cities ensembles. The reputation of Příbram ensemble is derived not only from departure of several actors to bigger ensembles, but also from the nationwide successful spectacle of Hrdý Budžes ({{lang-en|Proud Budžes}}), a comedy play after book of Příbram born Irena Dousková. Barbora Hrzánová won the Thalia award as the best Czech female stage actress of the 2004 year.

Musical life of Příbram is connected to the name of Antonín Dvořák, who had his summerhouse in near Vysoká u Příbramě and visited Příbram often. In 1969, the Antonín Dvořák Music Festival was founded in Příbram, which has been organized annually until now, bringing domestic as well as foreign musicians and ensembles to the city and its neighbourhood. Příbram has its own amateur philharmonic orchestra, the Příbram Big Band still helds its concerts, miners‘ bands perform during annual miners‘festivals, the newest form of musical performances was brought to Příbram with the Ensemble of Svatá Hora Horn-Blowers.

The most important form of the city's musical activities was the choir singing. Starting with the Lumír-Dobromila association, founded and directed by composer, choirmaster and choral director Bohumil Fidler for fifteen years, and continuing as the Příbram Mixed Choir, the ensemble made a great impact on several generations of Příbram citizens. The most important choir leaders were Antonín Vepřek and his son, Vladimír. In 1939, Antonín Vepřek founded Příbram Children Choir, which is one of the oldest children choruses in the Czech Republic. Several children choruses are organized in Příbram elementary and art schools, where the city hosts annual international show of children choruses.

Popular music is played in several clubs in Příbram, with the Junior club the oldest of them. Of the Příbram music groups, the E!E punk rock band is the most important.

Miners in Příbram used to earn more money by handicrafts (embroidery, woodcarving, painting etc.), often on good artistic level. The Christmas cribs-making ({{lang-cs|betlém}}) lives until today, the museum collects also several mechanical models of mine. Of the professional artists, painter and graphic artist Karel Hojden, pupil of Max Švabinský was the most important. The world-known photographer of the first half of the 20th century František Drtikol was born in Příbram. The city gallery, which now seats in Zámeček-Ernestinum, former Prague archbishop's residence, is named after him and offers permanent exhibition of his works.

The Příbram museum was founded in 1886 and after several changes of form it is now run by the Central-Bohemian Region and named Mining Museum Příbram. It is the biggest museum of its kind in the Czech Republic, it contains the objects of historical mine with old headstock, miner's house, drift with a mining train, exhibition of mining history, geological collection and others.

Education

Příbram was the site of the Mining University, the tradition of which still continues today however the institution was moved to Ostrava in 1945. For more information about the university see below.

With the removal of the Mining University, Příbram lost the status of university city. In the 1990s, the city authorities aspired for the status again. In 2005 the College of European and Regional Studies ({{lang-cs|Vysoká škola evropských a regionálních studií, VŠERS}}) with seat in České Budějovice opened its affiliate in Příbram, with 30 students in the courses.^[7]

There were news of another university department opened in Příbram in 2006 autumn, specialized on correspondence course of physical therapy.^[8]

High schools offer in Příbram includes two gymnasiums, technical school, business academy, medical school and training college. Gymnasium Příbram was founded 1871 and serves as a general educational propaedeutics institutions for applicants for university studies. The Pod Svatou Horou gymnasium was founded in the 1990s. The technical school was derived from the preliminary courses of the Mining University, so called Mining School, founded already in 1851. In 2006 the school had 564 students.^[9]

Seven elementary schools are in Příbram, six of them with traditional educational program (the number was reduced by two in the 1990s). The remaining one, found in 1991, stands on the Waldorf education program and it has also opened its own high school.

The city has 13 kindergartens and runs also two musical and art schools.^[10]

Mining University in Příbram (1894–1945)

Mining education in Příbram dates from the beginning of the 19th century. The School of Mines was founded in 1851 and it was changed to Mining Academy in 1865. It was then the only mining educational institution in the Czech lands. The academy struggled in the shadow of Leoben academy, which repeatedly obtained its privileges in advance.

Important professors and lecturers of this era include:

• Geologist František Pošepný: one of the most important educators in the 19th century and of all the school's history;
• Mine surveyor ({{lang-de|Markscheider}}) Gustav Ziegelheim: Professor for mining, ore processing and mine surveying as of 1882, Director of the School of Mines from 1883 to 1885 and from 1889 to 1895.^[11]

In 1894, the academy received its university status decree and A. Hoffmann was elected the first chancellor of the university in 1898.

At the beginning of the 20th century the national conflicts lead to attempts to move Leoben academy to Vienna, while the Příbram school should have been dissolved. Long proceedings and the fact, that three quarters of the mining production of the Austria-Hungary was provided by the mines in the Czech lands, resulted in keeping both mining schools (Leoben and Příbram) alive. In 1904 both Leoben and Příbram institutions were renamed Mining Academy ({{lang-cs|Vysoká škola báňská}}) with prof. Josef Theurer as the first chancellor.

The university started with 11 departments, but the number grew to 18 in 1924. The university had the right to name doctors of mining sciences (dr. mont.). The highest number of students was almost 500 in 1921, but in the late 1930s the number fell to 120.

The position of the institution changed basically after arousal of Czechoslovakia in 1918, one year later the Czech language became the official language of the university. Many attempts to move it out of Příbram recurred, several of them initiated from the university itself, but they were refused.

Sports

Příbram is the home of 1. FK Příbram football club, successor of past Dukla Prague. The top division games have been played at the Na Litavce Stadium since 1997. The other Příbram's football club Spartak (also called Horymír) plays regional competition.

Příbram's volleyball club Vavex Příbram, found in 1935, has been a member of the Czech top division since 1998.

The ice hockey club entered regional league in 2006. The city is regular host of a city run, several road cycling races including the Grand Prix of Příbram. The Rallye Příbram (former Rallye Vltava) used to be part of the European Championships, now is the integrant part of the national championships. The movement of the little football plays a major role in the sport for all in the city and region organizing regular long-term competitions twice a year for almost 50 teams.

Besides the Na Litavce Stadium, the sport facilities in Příbram include two indoor ice rinks (main arena for approx. 5,000 spectators opened in 1978), indoor sports arena (opened 1978, capacity enlarged in reconstruction in 2005), modern open-air and indoor swimming pool and several playgrounds and tennis centers. Many of the Příbram's elementary schools have their sport-oriented classes and they have sports facilities like the high schools in the city.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Příbram is twinned with:

• Hoorn, Netherlands, since 1992;
• Villerupt, France, since before 1989;
• Chekhov, Russia, since before 1989;
• Freiberg, Germany, since 1999;
• Kežmarok, Slovakia, since 1997;
• Königs Wusterhausen, Germany, since before 1989;
• Altötting, Germany.^[13]

Notable people born in or otherwise connected to Příbram

listed chronologically

• Arnošt of Pardubice ({{lang-de|Ernst von Pardubitz}}, 1297, probably in Glatz - 1364, Raudnitz), Archbishop of Prague, owner of the Příbram domain;
• Bohuslav Balbín (1621, Hradec Králové - 1688, Prague), writer and poet, lived in Příbram;
• František Pošepný (1836–1895), geologist, director of the School of Mines in Příbram;^[14]
• Gustav Ziegelheim (1839, Vyškov – 1904, Příbram), professor for mining, ore processing and mine surveying, director of the School of Mines in Příbram;^[15]
• Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), composer, stayed often in nearby Vysoká u Příbramě, composed his opera Rusalka there;
• Bohumil Fidler (1860–1944), composer, choirmaster, choir director and music teacher;
• Jiří Baborovský (1875–1946)
• František Gellner (1881–1914), Jewish poet, lived and studied in Příbram;
• František Drtikol (1883, Příbram - 1961, Prague), photographer, born in Příbram;
• Hermína Týrlová (1900–1993), cartoon-movie maker, born i Březové Hory;
• Adina Mandlová (1910, Mladá Boleslav - 1991 Příbram), Czech actress, died there
• Jan Drda (1915, Příbram - 1970, Dobříš), writer, born in Příbram;
• Richard Tesařík (1915–1967), general and war hero;
• Josef Doležal (1920, Příbram - 1999 in Prague)
• Josef Vacek (born 1959, Příbram)
• Ivan Fuksa (born 1963, Příbram)
• Martin Švejnoha (born 1977, Příbram)
• Filip Dort (born 1980)
• Patrik Štefan (born 1980)
• Tomáš Zápotočný (born 1980)
• Stanislav Nohýnek (born 1983)
• František Rajtoral (1986, Příbram)
• Tomáš Pilík (born 1988, Příbram)
• Milan Mišůn (born 1990, Příbram)
• Pavel Pilík (born 1992, Příbram)
• Jiří Veselý (born 1993, Příbram)

Příbram meteorite

The city was the impact site of the Přibram meteorite in 1959. This was the first meteorite whose trajectory was tracked by multiple cameras recording the associated fireball. Several fragments of it were found close to Příbram at the nearby village of Luhy.^[16]

References

Bibliography

• ČÁKA, Jan Kráčím starou Příbramí. Příbram : Olšanská & Hyšpler, 1998. 83 p. {{ISBN|80-902362-1-9}}.
• VELFL, Josef. Příbram v průběhu staletí. Příbram : Městský úřad, 2003. 166 p. {{ISBN|80-239-1174-0}}.

Notes

External links

• Municipal website
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Přibram|volume=22|page=313}}