ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA	CZECH REPUBLIC
Pardubický kraj	Pardubice region
Okres: Svitavy

map →

• lt: Svitavai • lv: Svitavi • de: Zwittau
• el: Σβίταβι
• bg, mk, ru, sr: Свитави • uk: Світави • be: Світаві

Svitavy (in German: Zwittau) is situated at an elevation of 435 m on the Svitava river in the Pardubice region of eastern Bohemia. Svitavy is the administrative centre of the district of the same name. The municipality has a population of about 16,900 (2017).

The town's origins date back to around 1150 when Premonstratensian monks from nearby Litomyšl built a church and founded a village at a ford on the river Svitava, from which the settlement got its name. Svitavy was first mentioned in 1256 when it was taken over by the bishop of Olomouc. Settlers were then brought in from Germany. In 1330, Svitavy was promoted to the status of a city, and at the end of the 14th century, walls were built around the city with three gates. In the 16th century the town flourished economically as a center of weavers and drapers. During the Hussite, Thirty Years', Napoleonic and Austro-Prussian wars, the city suffered as armies passed through the town. During the Thirty Years' War the town was devastated and in 1781 it burned down by accident. In the 19th century the building of a railway line through Zwittau contributed to the development of the town, especially the textile industry. Svitavy was historically a German-speaking town with a Czech minority; in 1930, 88.4% of the population was German. In October 1938, the town was added to Sudetenland and occupied by the German army. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the German population was expelled as a result of the Beneš decrees. The industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved 1,200 Jews working at his factory during the war, was born in Zwittau.

The church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary [left, no. 4656: background right] is located on the main square. It was probably originally a Romanesque structure built in around 1250. After the fire in 1781, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style. It has an accessible tower with a panoramic view.

The Marian or Plague Column on Svitavy's central square was erected in 1703. It's artist is unknown. Surrounding the column are thee statues of the city's patron saints, St. Sebastian, St. Florian and St. John Nepomuk.

The Motherly Love Fountain [left, no. 4708: left picture] was donated to the town by the patron Oswald Ottendorfer in 1892. The bronze figure group was created by the sculptor Adolf Donndorf already in 1881 for New York. Further copies were later also made for Weimar (1895) and Stuttgart (1898). In Svitavy, it was originally located next to the Ottendorfer Public Library. The bronze figure group has a height of 2.2 metres and is placed on a high base of red Swedish granite. The water pours from two lion heads on the sides into two semicircular basins. On the remaining two sides there are bronze plates, on one of which are the words "In memory of my good mother" and on the other "Erected by Oswald Ottendorfer 1892". Today, the fountain is located in the former Langer-Park (today Park Jana Palacha).
The German inscription below the picture on the glass reads: Nicht die Perle, nicht der Demant ziert den Menschen – seine Thaten

The Ottendorfersche Freie Volksbibliothek (Ottendorfer Free Public Library) [left, no. 4708: left picture] was also donated to the town in 1892 by Oswald Ottendorfer. Ottendorfer was born in Svitavy (Zwittau) in 1826 and later emigrated to New York, where he founded the New Yorker Deutsche Staatszeitung ('New York German State Newspaper'), which became the basis for his wealth. The building in his hometown was created by the architect Germano Wanderlev. Ottendorfer donated the funds for the building 190,000 guilders) and also donated significant sums afterwards for its maintainance.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svitavy, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svitavy; http://www.zwittau.de/orte/zwittau-stadt/brunnen/brunnen.htm; https://de.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Die_Ottendorfersche_Freie_Volksbibliothek_in_Zwittau_in_M%C3%A4hren, http://schoenhengstgau.eu/orte/zwi/zwittau/, https://prull-laubendorf.beepworld.de/geschichte.htm]