OLMUTZ (

See also:

• CZECH (in Bohemian, Cech)

Czech; Olomouc or Holomauc)  , a town of Austria, in Moravia, 67 m . N.E. of Briinn by rail . Pop . (1900) 21,933, of which two-thirds are Germans . It is situated on the March, and is the ecclesiastical metropolis of Moravia . Until 1886 Olmutz was one of the strongest fortresses of Austria, but the fortifications have been removed, and their place is occupied by a town park, gardens and promenades . Like .most Slavonic towns, it contains several large squares, the chief of which is adorned with a trinity column, 115 ft. high, erected in 1740 . The most prominent church is the cathedral, a Gothic building of the 14th century, restored in 1883—1886, with a tower 328 ft. high and the biggest church-bell in Moravia . It contains the tomb of King Wenceslaus III., who was murdered here in 1306 . The Mauritius church, a fine Gothic building of the 15th century, and the St Michael church are also worth mentioning . The principal secular building is the town-hall, completed in, the 15th century, flanked on one side by a Gothic chapel, trans-formed now into a museum . It possesses a tower 250 ft. high, adorned with an astronomical clock, an artistic and famous work, executed by Anton Pohl in 1422 .

The old university, founded in 1570 and suppressed in 1858, is now represented by a theological

seminary, which contains a very valuable library and an important collection of manuscripts and early prints . 0lmutz is an important railway junction, and is the emporium of a busy mining and industrial district . Its industries include brewing and distilling and the manufacture of malt, sugar and starch . Olmutz is said to occupy the site of a Roman fort founded in the imperial period, the original name of which, Mons Julii, has been gradually corrupted to the present form . At a later period Olmutz was long the capital of the Slavonic kingdom of Moravia, but it ceded that position to Briinn in 164o . The Mongols were defeated here in 1241 by Yaroslav von Sternberg . During the Thirty Years' War it was occupied by the Swedes for eight years . The town was originally fortified by Maria Theresa during the wars with Frederick the Great, who besieged the to nn unsuccessfully for seven weeks in 1758 . In 1848 Olmutz was the scene of the emperor Ferdinand's abdication, and in 185o an important conference took place here between Austrian and German statesmen . The bishopric of Olmutz was founded in 1073, and raised to the rank of an archbishopric in 1777 . The bishops were created princes of the empire in 1588 . The archbishop is the only one in the Austrian empire who is elected by the cathedral chapter .

See W .

Muller, Geschichte der koniglichen Flauptstadt Olmiitz (2nd ed., (Mmutz, 1895) .