Žatec
Town
Svobody Square with town hall and Holy Trinity Column
Flag Coat of arms
Žatec Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 50°19′48″N 13°32′40″E / 50.33000°N 13.54444°E / 50.33000; 13.54444
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Ústí nad Labem
District	Louny
First mentioned	1004
Government
• Mayor	Radim Laibl
Area
• Total	42.68 km2 (16.48 sq mi)
Elevation	233 m (764 ft)
Population  (2024-01-01)[1]
• Total	19,046
• Density	450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	438 01
Website	www.mesto-zatec.cz
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops
Criteria	Cultural: (iii), (iv), (v)
Designated	2023 (45th session)
Reference no.	1558-002

Žatec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʒa.tɛt͡s]; German: Saaz) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Ohře river. Žatec is famous for an over-700-year-long tradition of growing Saaz noble hops used by several breweries. Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation and partly also as an urban monument zone.

The villages of Bezděkov, Milčeves, Radíčeves, Trnovany, Velichov and Záhoří are administrative parts of Žatec.

The name Žatec is derived from the Old Czech word záteč / zateč. It was a designation for a place on a river where ice accumulates in a narrowed channel.^[2]

Žatec is located about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Louny and 62 km (39 mi) northwest of Prague. It lies in an agricultural landscape of the Most Basin. The highest point is at 337 m (1,106 ft) above sea level. The Ohře River flows through the town. The Liboc River joins the Ohře on the western outskirts of the town. The Blšanka River flows through the Trnovany part of Žatec and then joins the Ohře just outside the territory of Žatec.

The first written mention of Žatec is in the Latin chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg of 1004. In 1248, Žatec was firstly titled as a town. In 1265, it received the privileges of a royal town from King Ottokar II.^[3]

In the 16th century, Žatec had around 5,000 inhabitants and was one of the most populous towns in the kingdom. In 1827, a chain bridge over the Ohře, the first chain bridge in Bohemia, was built.^[3]

From the outbreak of the Hussite Wars in 1419 to the Thirty Years' War, the town was Hussite or Protestant, but after the Battle of White Mountain (1620) the greater part of the Czech inhabitants left the town.^[3] It remained an ethnically German town until 1945, when the Germans were expelled. On 3 June 1945, 5,000 male Sudeten German inhabitants from Žatec were marched to the town square of Postoloprty and where at least 763 were murdered. Estimates range up to 2,000 victims killed by Czechoslovak military on the march, in Postoloprty, and in Žatec on and after the march.^[4]

Žatec and its surroundings is known for its tradition of growing Saaz hops. Saaz hops or Žatec hops is a protected designation of origin.^[7]

The tradition of beer brewing started here in 1261; growing of hops is first documented in 1348.^[3] In 1800–1801, the Žatec Brewery started its production, which continues to this day.^[8]

Žatec is located on the railway line Plzeň–Most. The town is served by two train stations: Žatec and Žatec západ.

Žatec hosts Dočesná, a hops-related harvest festival. It takes place on the town square every September.^[9]

Žatec is home to three secondary schools: Žatec Gymnasium, Business Academy and Secondary Vocational School of Agriculture and Ecology, and Secondary Vocational School SČMSD (focused on the hotel industry and gastronomy). There are six primary schools and also one primary art school.^[10]

Žatec is represented by the football club FK Slavoj Žatec, playing in lower amateur tiers. It was founded in 1936.^[11]

The main sports facility is the Mládí Stadium. It was founded in 1965.^[12]

The Flora Stadium is a sports facility in the south of the town. It was founded between 1924 and 1938.^[13] Until 1960, it had a motorcycle speedway track at the site.^[14]

Since 1961, the historic core of Žatec has been protected as an urban monument reservation. It is a collection of important buildings and architectural styles from the Romanesque period to the Art Nouveau.^[3]

Since 2003, the area south of the historic centre has been protected as an urban monument zone. It is valuable mainly for its technical constructions related to hop growing.^[15]

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the most significant monuments. It was originally built in the Romanesque style and some of its Romanesque parts are still preserved. In 1724–1728, the Chapel of Saint John of Nepomuk was added. Around 1740, the west façade was reconstructed in the Baroque style.^[16]

The hop-growing and brewing tradition is widely presented by the town. There are Hop Museum and Brewing Museum. The Temple of Hops and Beer is a tourist complex with several attractions, including a lookout tower and a small astronomical clock. Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops (which includes the village of Trnovany within Žatec and the village of Stekník) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023.^[17]

Žatec was used as a filming location for many historical films and TV series, including^[18] Yentl (1983), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), Les Misérables (1998), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999), Oliver Twist (1999), Burning Bush (2013),^[19] The Zookeeper's Wife (2016),^[20] A Bag of Marbles (2017) and Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit (2019).^[21]

Žatec is twinned with:^[22]

• Krasnystaw, Poland
• Poperinge, Belgium
• Thum, Germany
• Žalec, Slovenia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Žatec.

Wikisource has several original texts related to Žatec.

• Official website
• Friends of Saaz/ Žatec (in German and English)