Important dates and people in the history of Pilsen

Selected historical events

• Ca. 500 B.C.: Proof of settlements at the confluence of Mže, Radbuza, Úhlava and Úslava Rivers
• 976 A.D.: First written mention of Pilsen Castle in what is now the town of Starý Plzenec
• 1295: King Wenceslas II decreed the establishment of New Pilsen
• 1460: Large Pond established in Bolevec
• 1468: The first Czech book The Trojan Chronicle was printed
• 1507: Great fire; beginning of Renaissance reconstruction
• 1599: Pilsen temporarily became the centre of the state – the main seat of Emperor Rudolph II
• 1618: Pilsen was conquered by Count Mansfeld’s Army; beginning of the Thirty Years War
• 1776: College-preparatory secondary school established in Pilsen
• 1832: First brick-and-mortar theatre is built, hospital is opened
• 1842: Burghers’ Brewery established, production of Pilsner Urquell beer starts
• 1859: Waldstein Engineering Works established, 10 years later it became the basis for Škoda Works
• 1861: Railway from Pilsen to Furth im Wald completed, the line from Pilsen to Prague is completed the following year
• 1876: A public library for the royal chartered town is established
• 1924: Greater Pilsen is created by integrating several municipalities
• 1945: Pilsen is liberated by the US Army on May 6
• 1945–1949: First institute of higher education opens in Pilsen
• 1953: Residents demonstrate against the communist monetary reform and regime
• 1991: University of West Bohemia in Pilsen established
• 1993: Bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church established

Great natives and important people
Giovanni de Statia (Renaissance architect and builder; lived in Pilsen from 1554–1596), Šimon Plachý (town scribe, first chronicle of Pilsen; about 1560–1609), Martin Kopecký (burgomaster; 1777–1854), Josef Kajetán Tyl (literary writer, playwright and journalist; 1808–1856), Bedřich Smetana (composer; 1824–1884), Václav Brožík (painter; 1851–1901), Mikoláš Aleš (painter; 1852–1913), Emil Škoda (founder of Škoda, which went on to become Czechoslovakia’s largest engineering company; 1839–1900), František Křižík (inventor, electrical engineer and entrepreneur; 1847–1941), Augustin Němejc (painter; 1863–1938), Josef Beran (Archbishop of Prague, named Cardinal in Rome; 1888–1969), Josef Skupa (puppeteer, creator of Spejbl and Hurvínek; 1892–1957), Jiří Trnka (painter, illustrator, puppeteer and director; 1912–1969), Miroslav Horníček (actor, literary writer, playwright and director; 1918–2003), Miroslav Zikmund (explorer and writer, *1919), Jiří Suchý (stage actor, writer, composer and artist, *1931)