Český Brod

Český Brod is a town in the Kolín District of the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, home to about 7,400 inhabitants. It lies on the Šembera Stream in the flat agricultural landscape of the Central Elbe Table, some 23 kilometres east of Prague, and consists of three municipal parts: Český Brod itself, Liblice and Štolmíř. The name means Bohemian ford and refers to a crossing of the stream. The settlement was first called Biskupský Brod, or Bishop's ford, and took its present name from 1315 to tell it apart from German Brod, today Havlíčkův Brod, on the same trade route. The town was probably founded by the Bishop of Prague between 1134 and 1139, was designated a free royal town by Emperor Sigismund in 1437 and gained a railway in 1845, which brought a steam mill, a brewery and a farm machinery factory. Preserved town walls, the Church of Saint Gotthard and the Old Town Hall are among the sights of its historic centre, which is protected as an urban monument zone.