Holašovice

Holašovice, also known as Holschowitz, is a small historic settlement in southern Czechia, located 16 kilometers west of České Budějovice and part of the Jankov municipality. To its south lies the Blanský Forest protected landscape area. After World War II, the village was abandoned, which left its medieval layout and vernacular buildings—built in the South Bohemian Folk or Rural Baroque style—completely untouched. Restoration and repopulation began in 1990, and in 1998 UNESCO recognized it as a World Heritage Site for its outstandingly well-preserved example of a traditional Baroque-era village.

History

The earliest written record of Holašovice dates to 1263. In 1292, King Wenceslaus II granted the village, along with several others, to the Cistercian monastery at Vyšší Brod, which retained ownership until 1848. Between 1520 and 1525, the bubonic plague nearly wiped out the population, leaving only two survivors. A column at the northern edge of the village marks the plague grave.

The monastery then gradually resettled the area with people from Bavaria and Austria. By 1530, monastery records show a population of 17, and the village had become a mostly German-speaking enclave within a Czech-speaking region. In 1900, there were 163 German inhabitants and just one Czech.

Following the expulsion of German residents at the end of World War II, many farms were left empty and deteriorated. Under the post-war Communist regime, Holašovice became a desolate, abandoned place. Since 1990, the village has been extensively restored and reoccupied, and today it has about 140 residents.

Buildings and architecture

Architecturally, Holašovice is a typical Bohemian village of the Hlubocká Blata area near České Budějovice. It comprises 23 brick farmsteads—totaling 120 buildings—along with a fish pond, a forge, and a chapel.

The farms are built in the South Bohemian Folk Baroque style, arranged in U-shapes with a central farmyard and stucco gable ends facing a broad village green. Most of the structures date from the second half of the 19th century, though they span the 18th to 20th centuries. The chapel of St. John of Nepomuk, located on the green, was constructed in 1755.