ZlÃÂn (in 1949âÂÂ1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the ZlÃÂn Region and it lies on the Dà Âevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city is closely connected to the Bata Shoes company and its social scheme, developed after World War I. A large part of ZlÃÂn is urbanistically and architecturally valuable and is protected as an urban monument zone.
ZlÃÂn consists of 16 municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):
Prà ¡tné, Louky, Mladcová, Pà ÂÃÂluky, Jaroslavice, Kudlov and Malenovice are urbanistically fused with the ZlÃÂn proper. They are sometimes called ZlÃÂn IIâÂÂVIII, which was part of their name at the time when they were administratively merged with ZlÃÂn.
There are several legends about the origin of the name of the city, according to which it was derived from (i.e. 'marl') or (i.e. 'golden apple'). However, the name ZlÃÂn was most likely derived from the old personal Slavic name Zla, Zlen or Zleà ¡.
From 1949 to 1989, the city was renamed Gottwaldov after the first communist president of Czechoslovakia Klement Gottwald. On 1 January 1990, the city's name was changed back to ZlÃÂn.
ZlÃÂn is located about east of Brno. It forms an urban area together with the town of Otrokovice. The territory of the city lies in the Vizovice Highlands. The highest point is the hill Tlustá hora at above sea level. The Dà Âevnice River flows through the city. The Fryà ¡ták Reservoir is situated in the northern part of the municipal territory.
ZlÃÂn's climate is classified as humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb; Trewartha: Dobk). Among them, the annual average temperature is , the hottest month in July is , and the coldest month is in January. The annual precipitation is , of which July is the wettest with , while January is the driest with only . The extreme temperature throughout the year ranged from on 9 February 1956 to on 8 July 1957.
The first written mention of ZlÃÂn is from 1322, when it was acquired by Queen Elizabeth Richeza. In that time, ZlÃÂn was already a market town and served as a craft guild centre for the surrounding area of Moravian Wallachia. From 1358, the ZlÃÂn estate was owned by Bishop Albrecht of à  ternberk and soon became the seat of the Moravian branch of the à  ternberk family. In 1397, the town privileges of ZlÃÂn were extended and ZlÃÂn became a town. This significantly helped the economic development of ZlÃÂn.
The Hussite Wars badly affected properties of the Sternbergs and they were forced to sell ZlÃÂn in 1437. In the second half of the 15th century, ZlÃÂn was threatened by the BohemianâÂÂHungarian War. The 16th century brought peace and prosperity to the town. Trade and crafts flourished, mainly drapery, pottery and shoemaking. New villages were founded in the vicinity of ZlÃÂn, which became a large town and economic centre.
In 1605, ZlÃÂn was raided and burned by Hungarian rebels. The Thirty Years' War left the town severely damaged and half deserted. The residents of ZlÃÂn, along with people from the whole Wallachian region, led an uprising against the Habsburg monarchy. The rebellion was however bloodily suppressed in 1644. After the war, ZlÃÂn became property of the Hungarian noble family of Serényi, but they did not care much for the town, and therefore ZlÃÂn recovered only slowly.
Economic activity was restored in the 18th century. Larger industrial enterprises appeared in the mid-19th century. A small match factory was established in 1850 and a shoe factory in 1870, but both were soon closed, and the town continued to live mainly from the work of craftsmen. In 1899, the railway was built.
ZlÃÂn began to grow rapidly after TomÃ¡à ¡ Baà ¥a and his siblings founded a shoe factory there in 1894, known as Bata Company. Production gradually increased, as did the number of employees and the population of the town. Baà ¥a's factory supplied the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I. Due to the remarkable economic growth of the company and the increasing prosperity of its workers, Baà ¥a himself was elected mayor of ZlÃÂn in 1923.
Baà ¥a became the leading manufacturer and marketer of footwear in Czechoslovakia in 1922. Besides producing footwear, the company diversified into engineering, chemistry, rubber technology and many more areas. The factory hired thousands of workers who moved to ZlÃÂn. A new large complex of modern buildings and facilities was gradually built by the Baà ¥a's company on the outskirts of the town in 1923âÂÂ1938. It included thousands of flats, schools, department stores, scientific facilities, and a hospital. The development took place in a controlled manner and was based on modern urban concepts with the contribution of important architects of the time. ZlÃÂn became a hypermodern industrial city with functionalist character unique in Europe.
After the death of TomÃ¡à ¡ Baà ¥a in 1932, the company was managed by Jan AntonÃÂn Baà ¥a, Hugo VavreÃÂka and Dominik ÃÂipera, who also became the mayor. The Baà ¥a company and also the city of ZlÃÂn continued growing. In 1929âÂÂ1935, a strong economic agglomeration ZlÃÂn â Otrokovice â Napajedla developed. In 1935, the city became the seat of the administrative district.
During World War II, life in the city was controlled by German occupiers, and development of both the city and the company stopped. ZlÃÂn was most severely affected by the war in 1944, when it was bombed by the U.S. army and large parts of the factories were destroyed. ZlÃÂn was liberated by the Soviet and Romanian armies on 2 May 1945.
The communists took over management of ZlÃÂn and Baà ¥a factories, and in October 1945 the Bata company in Czechoslovakia was nationalised. In the following decades, ZlÃÂn preserved its significant position thanks to its extensive industrial production. The city strengthened its position as administrative, economic, educational and cultural centre of eastern Moravia. ZlÃÂn further expanded with construction of new housing estates.
The largest industrial employer with headquarters in ZlÃÂn is TAJMAC-ZPS, a manufacturer of machine tools with more than 500 employees. Bata Corporation (in the Czech Republic officially known as Baà ¥a a.s.) is now primarily a trading company and shoe production takes place outside the city.
ZlÃÂn is home to many large companies and organizations of the service sector. The largest employer in the city is the Regional Hospital of T. Baà ¥a with more than 3,000 employees. Other notable employers are HP Tronic (main activity is trade in consumer electronics under the Datart and Eta brands), Tomas Bata University in ZlÃÂn (education) and Tescoma (trade and manufacture of kitchen utensils).
The ZlÃÂn agglomeration was defined as a tool for drawing money from the European Structural and Investment Funds. It is an area that includes the city and its surroundings, linked to the city by commuting and migration. It has about 130,000 inhabitants.
Public city transport includes trolleybus service, which was launched in January 1944 and originally included three lines: A, B and C. Today the city, together with neighbouring Otrokovice, operates 14 trolleybus lines and 19 bus lines through the company DopravnÃÂ spoleÃÂnost ZlÃÂn-Otrokovice, s.r.o. (ZlÃÂn-Otrokovice Transport Company).
The I/49 road passes through the city. It connects ZlÃÂn with Otrokovice and the D55 motorway in the west, and with VsetÃÂn and the Czech-Slovak border in Stà Âelná in the east.
The ZlÃÂn is located on the railway line OtrokoviceâÂÂVizovice. There are nine stations on this line within the city of ZlÃÂn, the largest of which is ZlÃÂn stà Âed.
In 1969, the Faculty of Technology was founded here as a branch of the Brno University of Technology. In 2001, it was one of two faculties which formed the newly established Tomas Bata University in ZlÃÂn. With more than 9,000 students, it ranks as a medium-sized Czech university. It is formed by six faculties: Technology, Management and Economics, Multimedia Communications, Applied Informatics, Humanities, and Logistics and Crisis Management.
ZlÃÂn is located in the cultural region of Moravian Wallachia near the tripoint of the cultural regions of Moravian Wallachia, Moravian Slovakia and Hanakia.
Given ZlÃÂn's history as one of the biggest centres of filmmaking in the Czech Republic, probably the biggest cultural event is the ZlÃÂn Film Festival with subtitle "International Film Festival for Children and Youth".
Winter version of international music festival Masters of Rock takes place in ZlÃÂn.
ZlÃÂn is home to the Bohuslav Martinà ¯ Philharmonic Orchestra; its chief conductor is TomÃ¡à ¡ Brauner, while its principal guest conductor is Leoà ¡ Svárovský.
ZlÃÂn's ice hockey team PSG Berani ZlÃÂn plays in the 1st Czech League (2nd tier) and has won national titles in 2004 and in 2014. The association football team FC ZlÃÂn plays in the Czech National Football League (2nd tier), but played in the top tier in 2015âÂÂ2024. The city also has teams in other sports including volleyball, basketball, Czech handball, softball and rugby.
The city's architectural development was a characteristic synthesis of two modernist urban utopian visions: the first inspired by Ebenezer Howard's Garden city movement and the second tracing its lineage to Le Corbusier's vision of urban modernity. From the very beginning Baà ¥a pursued the goal of constructing the Garden City proposed by Ebenezer Howard. However, the shape of the city had to be 'modernized' so as to suit the needs of the company and of the expanding community. The urban plan of ZlÃÂn was the creation of Frantià ¡ek Lydie Gahura, a student at Le Corbusier's atelier in Paris.
The Villa of TomÃ¡à ¡ Baà ¥a was an early architectural achievement. The construction was completed in 1911. The building's design was carried out by the architect Jan KotÃÂra. After its confiscation in 1946, the building served as a Pionýr' house. Being returned to TomÃ¡à ¡ J. Baà ¥a, the son of the company's founder, the building now houses the headquarters of the Thomas Bata Foundation.
Baà ¥a's Hospital was founded in 1927 and quickly developed into one of the most modern hospitals in Central Europe. The original architectural set up was designed by F. L. Gahura.
The Grand Cinema was designed by the architect F. L. Gahura and built in 1932. This technological marvel became the largest cinema in Central Europe in its time with a capacity of 2,270 seated viewers. Today it has 1,010 seats.
Tomas Bata Memorial was built in 1933 by F. L. Gahura. The original purpose of the building was to commemorate the achievements of Baà ¥a. The building itself is a Constructivist masterpiece. It has served as the seat of the Bohuslav Martinà ¯ Philharmonic Orchestra since 1955.
Baà ¥a's Skyscraper was built as the headquarters for the worldwide Baà ¥a organization. Designed by VladimÃÂr KarfÃÂk, the huge building was erected in 1936âÂÂ1939. It included a room-sized elevator housing the office for the boss, comfortably furnished â with a sink, a telephone, and air conditioning. When it was built it was the tallest Czechoslovak building at . After a costly reconstruction in 2004, it became the seat of the Regional Office of the ZlÃÂn Region and the headquarters of the tax office.
The Leà ¡ná Castle is located in the village of à  tÃÂpa. It was built in the Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque styles in 1887âÂÂ1893. It is one of the youngest aristocratic residences in Moravia. The castle was built for the Seilern-Aspang family on the site of an older castle from the 18th century. Today the castle is open to the public and there are collections of unique and historically valuable objects. The castle is located inside the ZlÃÂn-Leà ¡ná Zoo complex. It is the second most-visited zoo in the country, and as of 2022, it was overall the third most visited tourist destination in the country.
The Malenovice Castle is located in Malenovice. It was founded in the second half of the 14th century. The Gothic castle was modified in the Renaissance style in the following centuries. Today part of the castle is open to the public and contains several expositions.
ZlÃÂn is twinned with:
ZlÃÂn also cooperates with Turin, Italy.