Havlíčkův Brod

Havlíčkův Brod is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic and the seat of the district that bears its name. About 24,000 people live there. It stands on the Sázava River in the Upper Sázava Hills, roughly in the geographical centre of the country and about 21 kilometres north of Jihlava. The town grew from a settlement on a trade route, said to have been founded by Smil of Lichtenburk probably in 1251, and was long called Německý Brod, German Ford. It was renamed in 1945 for the writer Karel Havlíček Borovský, who grew up and studied there, the first of many Czech towns renamed that year. Today it is a road and railway hub with a textile tradition, a preserved historic centre and a brewery founded in 1834.