Czech Republic

Experience the vibrant and dynamic history of Jihlava as you explore the captivating museum model showcasing the town in the first half of the 15th century.

Step back in time and witness the stunning beauty of Jihlava in the early 1400s through the meticulously crafted museum model, bringing the past to life before your eyes.

A royal mint operated there from about 1260, and a codified town mining law (Ius Regale Montanorum) served as a model for other central European mining laws. Hussite Utraquists and representatives of the Council of Basel signed a treaty in Jihlava in 1436.

In 1523 the town was almost entirely destroyed by fire; its reconstruction, around the great town square, was mostly in Renaissance style. By 1600 the cloth trade had replaced silver as the town´s economic basis, and a tobacco factory was introduced in the late 19th century. Today vehicles and precision instruments are manufactured as well.

The Museum of the City of Jihlava (also the Museum of the Vysočina Region) sent photographs of a model of the city of Jihlava, showing the presumed appearance of the city in the first half of the 15th century based on a long-term study of letters and Jihlava architecture. 

The town burned down twice at this time, onnce in 1353 (almost the entire town burned down here) and a second time in 1474. The model was probably made in the mid-1960s according to the historian František Hoffmann. The model shows the medieval city of Jihlava. On other models there is the only preserved city gate, three city churches, the already demolished Jewish synagogue and a model of a cross-section of the Renaissance house.

SOURCES:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Jihlava". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Sep. 2011, https://www.britannica.com/place/Jihlava. Accessed 22 March 2023.

KUČA, Karel. Města a městečka v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku. Praha: Libri, 1996. ISBN 978-80-7277-410-48.

Tomáš Linhart´s request to Martin Kos (kos@muzeum.ji.cz), Museum of Vysočina, Jihlava, 21.02.2022