- published: 20 Mar 2016
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Jihlava (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɪɦlava] ( listen); German: Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. Jihlava is a centre of the Vysočina Region, situated on the Jihlava river (German Igel) on the ancient frontier between Moravia and Bohemia, and is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic, ca. 50 years older than Kutná Hora.
Among the principal buildings are the early gothic churches of St. Jacob, Friars Minor church of Our Lady and Dominican church of Holy Cross, baroque church of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Municipal Hall and number of municipal houses containing gothic and renaissance details. There is also a Jewish cemetery, containing some remarkable monuments including tombstone of the parents of Gustav Mahler.
The city's German name, Iglau, is derived from the German word for hedgehog, Igel, hence the hedgehog on the coat of arms. An old Slavic settlement upon a ford was moved on a nearby hill where the mining town was founded (ca. 1240) by king Václav I, in the Middle Ages inhabited mostly by Germans (coming mostly from Northern Bavaria and Upper Saxony). Medieval mines surrounded by mining settlement were localized outside the walls of medieval town (local name Stare Hory). According to legend, the silver mines were worked as early as 799. There is, however, no historical evidence for such statements.