Humpolec

Humpolec (Humpoletz) is a town in Pelhřimov District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants.

Administrative parts
The villages of Brunka, Hněvkovice, Kletečná, Krasoňov, Lhotka, Petrovice, Plačkov, Rozkoš, Světlice, Světlický Dvůr and Vilémov are administrative parts of Humpolec.

Etymology
The name is derived from the German personal name Gumpolt. The oldest written form of the name was Gumpoldis in Latin.

Geography
Humpolec is located about 22 km northwest of Jihlava, roughly halfway between Prague and Brno. It lies in the Křemešník Highlands. The highest point is the hill Krásná vyhlídka at 663 m above sea level. There is a significant amount of small fishponds; some of them are in the urban area.

History
The first written mention of Humpolec is from 1178. In the 13th–15th centuries it was a silver mining town. Humpolec became known for drapery production from the 17th century, which reached its peak in the 19th century.

Economy
Humpolec is traditionally an industrial town. The largest employer is Valeo Compressor Europe, a manufacturer of compressors for cars.

Since 1597, the Family Brewery Bernard is established in the town.

Transport
The D1 motorway from Prague to Brno passes through Humpolec.

The railway of local importance heading to Havlíčkův Brod begins here.

Sights
The Church of Saint Nicholas was originally an early Gothic church, rebuilt in 1721–1722 in the Gothic-Baroque style by Jan Santini Aichel. Its current Neo-Gothic form is a result of the reconstruction in 1895.

The Evangelical church was built in the Historicist style in 1862, and the tower was added in 1890–1891. Together with the rectory from 1854 and the evangelical school, it forms an area protected as a cultural monument.

Since 2022, the chimney of the Family Brewery Bernard has a public observation deck in a height of 33 m, which is accessible over a spiral staircase with 189 steps. It is a part of the Visitor Centre of the brewery.

Notable people

 * Jan Želivský (1380–1422), priest
 * Aleš Hrdlička (1869–1943), Czech-American anthropologist
 * Josef Stránský (1872–1936), composer and conductor
 * Anna Sychravová (1873–1925), politician
 * Jaroslav Augusta (1878–1970), painter
 * Anděla Kozáková-Jírová (1897–1986), lawyer
 * Jan Zábrana (1931–1984), writer and translator; lived here as a child
 * Ivan Martin Jirous (1944–2011), poet, underground writer and dissident
 * Joseph Drapell (born 1940), Czech-Canadian painter
 * Dusan Kadlec (1942–2018), Czech-Canadian painter
 * Miluše Horská (born 1959), politician
 * David Holoubek (born 1980), football manager
 * Jan Kopic (born 1990), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities
Humpolec is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇰 Námestovo, Slovakia