ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA	CZECH REPUBLIC
Ústecký kraj	Ústí nad Labem region
Okres: Louny

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Žatec (German: Saaz) is situated at an elevation of 233 m on the right bank of the river Ohře (Eger) in northwestern Bohemia, about 19 km west of the district town Louny, and about 51 km southwest of the regional capital, Ústí nad Labem. The municipality has a population of about 18,800 (2021).

The oldest known written mention of the place is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004. In 1248 it was first mentioned as a town, and in 1265 it obtained the privileges of a royal town. In the 15th century it had a population of some 5,000 inhabitants and thus was one of the most populous towns in the kingdom of Bohemia. From the outbreak of the Hussite wars in 1419 until the eThirty Years' War (1618–1648) the town was Hussite or Protestant. After Battle of the White Mountain (Bíla Hora, today in Prague) most of the Czech/Protestant population left the town, so that until 1945 the population was predominantly Roman Catholic and German. On 3 June 1945, about 5,000 German inhabitants were gathered and marched to Postoloprty, where at least 763 were murdered in the Postoloprty massacre, estimates range up to 2,000 victims killed by Czechoslovak military in Žatec and on the march.

The parish and deanery church of the Assumption of Our Lady [left, no. 4185: background right] goes back to a Romanesque church of the 13th century. In the 14th century it was rebuilt in Gothic style. Destroyed by fire in 1738, the church was restored again, this time in Baroque style. Further modifications took place after another fire in 1840. In 1893–1898 the church was 'modernised' by remodeling it in Historistic neo-Gothic style. The church was renovated in 1993–1994 (exterior) and 2004–2007 (interior).

The iron truss bridge across the Ohře [left, no. 4185: foreground right] was built in 1897 to replace the old chain bridge of 1827, which had been the first of its kind in the kingdom of Bohemia.

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDatec, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDatec; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekanatskirche_Mari%C3%A4_Himmelfahrt_(%C5%BDatec)]