Jihlava (German Iglau) is a city in the Czech Republic. Jihlava is a centre of the Vysocina Region, situated on the Jihlava river on the ancient frontier between Moravia and Bohemia, and is the oldest mining town in the Czech Republic.
Among the principal buildings are the churches of St. Jacob, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. John the Baptist and St. Paul, the Municipal Hall and the catacombs, second largest in the Czech Republic. There is also a Jewish cemetery, containing some remarkable monuments including tombstone of the parents of Gustav Mahler.
An old Slavic settlement upon a ford merged with a later mining town, in the Middle Ages inhabited mostly by Germans. According to legend, the silver mines were worked so early as 799. There is, however, no historical evidence for such statements. King Ottokar I (1198-1230) established here a mining-office and a mint. At a very early date it enjoyed exceptional privileges, which were confirmed by King Wenceslaus I in the year 1250. The Municipal Hall contains a collection of municipal and mining laws dating as far back as 1389.
In the era of the Hussite Wars, Jihlava stayed a Catholic stronghold and managed to resist in sieges. Later at Jihlava, on July 5 1436, the treaty was made with the Hussites, by which the emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A granite column near the town marks the spot where Ferdinand I, in 1527, swore fidelity to the Bohemian estates.
During the Thirty Years' War Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedes. In 1742 it fell into the hands of the Prussians, and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Wrede were defeated near the town.
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