ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA	CZECH REPUBLIC
Pardubický kraj	Pardubice region
Okres: Svitavy

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Polička is situated at an elevation of 555 m about 16 km west of Svitavy in eastern Bohemia. The municipality has a population of about 8,800 (2018).

The area na poličkach was first mentioned in the 12th century. Policz was founded in 1265 as a Royal town. In 1307 it became a dowager estate of the Bohemia queens. During the Hussite Wars the town was destroyed in 1421 and about 1,300 of its population were killed. Rebuilt in the second half of the 16th century, the town was again destroyed by fire in 1613 and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) left the town almost completely depopulated. A boom of the city occurred in the 18th century with it's Baroque rebuilding. However, another fire in 1845 destroyed most of that. The industrial development was therefore largeley inhibited, but on the other hand, about 1,200 metres of the old town walls remained largely preserved, although all four gates were demolished in the first half of the 19th century. The industrial development only started when the railroad from Svitavy was opened in 1896.

The church of St. James the Greater [background centre] goes back to the times of the foundation of the city in 1265. The church was rebuilt as a three-nave Gothic basilica with a prismatic tower in the Gothic period. In the great fire of the town in 1840 the church was completely destroyed. The reconstruction in Neo-Gothic style began in 1853 and was completed in 1865.

The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) was born in the watchman's gallery of the tower on 8th December 1890.

The Baroque town hall [near left, no. 4337] was built in 1739–1744, probably according to the design of František Maxmilián Kaňka, on the site of an older town hall from the 14th century. The tower was preserved from the original, Gothic town hall, and was surrounded by the new building. In 1845, the town hall was heavily damaged by a fire that affected the entire city. In 1846, the town hall and the tower received a temporary roofing, both of which lasted until the 20th century. This state of the building is depicted here. The onion-shaped roof of the tower was only restored in 1916, and the original mansard roof of the town hall was restored in 1942. In 1958, the town hall was entered into the list of cultural monuments and in 2008 it was declared a national cultural monument by the Ministry of Culture. Today, the old Town Hall is the seat of the Municipal Museum and Gallery.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polička, https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polička; https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostel_svatého_Jakuba_(Polička); https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radnice_(Poli%C4%8Dka)]