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The story
The predecessor of today's town was a Slavic gord. The first written mention of Hradec is from 1220, when a Gothic castle was built on the site of the former gord by the owner of the estate, Jindřich I Vítkovec from the Vítkovci family (founder of the line of the Lords of Hradec). In the mid-13th century, a settlement was founded by the castle and named after the founder of the castle. The current name Jindřichův Hradec is documented first in 1410.
In the late 16th century, when Jindřichův Hradec was owned by the last members of the Hradec family, the town has reached the peak of its development. The houses and the castle were rebuilt from Gothic into the Renaissance style, and the town spread beyond the town walls. After the Thirty Years' War, in 1654, Jindřichův Hradec was the second largest town in the Kingdom of Bohemia with 405 houses. Soon after, however, it lost its political importance, and at the end of the 17th century, economic importance also declined.
In 1773 and 1801 respectively, the town was damaged by large fires and many houses have undergone building modifications. Part of the town walls was demolished and a new large park was established on the border between Old Town and New Town. In 1887, the town was connected by railway with Veselí nad Lužnicí and Jihlava.
From Wikipedia’s article on Jindřichův Hradec, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4