Lysá nad Labem

Lysá nad Labem (Lissa an der Elbe) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the Elbe River. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

Administrative parts
The villages of Byšičky, Dvorce and Litol are administrative parts of Lysá nad Labem.

Geography
Lysá nad Labem is located about 14 km west of Nymburk and 20 km northeast of Prague. It lies mostly in the Central Elbe Table lowland within the Polabí region, only the northern part of the municipal territory extends into the Jizera Table. The highest point is the hill Šibák at 228 m above sea level. The town is situated on the right bank of the Elbe River.

History
Lysá nad Labem was firstly mentioned in Chronica Boemorum, with its existence mentioned in 1034. In the 13th century, a castle was built here and until the reign of the Luxembourgs, the town was property of the Czech queens. Since 1291, there has been evidence of Lysá being a town. In that year, Queen Judith of Habsburg issued a charter to unite the settlements of the Lysá estate into one economic unit.

During the Hussite Wars the town suffered a lot. At the turn of the 15th and 16th century, the Smiřický family of Smiřice rebuilt the dilapidated castle into a late Gothic castle. In 1548, Emperor Ferdinand I added Lysá to the intimate dominion as a hunting centre. After a large fire, he had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style.

The sustainable development of the town was stopped by the Thirty Years' War. In 1647, Lysá was acquired by the empire general Johann von Sporck and then the town began to flourish. After the general's death, his son Franz Anton von Sporck began to reign. He made the most important changes in 1696 when the Augustinian monastery was restored and the new parish church and the Chapel of Three Kings were built.

In 1950, the municipality of Litol was merged with the town.

Transport
Lysá nad Labem is an important hub in the railroad network. It is located at the intersection of the routes to and from Kolín – Prague/Ústí nad Labem. In addition, a local single-track railway to Milovice also branches out from the station.

Culture
Lysá nad Labem is known for the horse racing course and its exhibition grounds, where many thematic exhibitions are held during the whole year.

Sights
The notable buildings of the town are the Augustinian monastery, neighbouring with the Baroque castle with a valuable castle park, and the Baroque Church of Saint John the Baptist. Baroque monuments are here thanks to the reign of count Franz Anton von Sporck, who invited many Baroque artists to the town. The most famous of them was the sculptor Matthias Braun. Braun with his pupils sculpted many statues for the town, many of which decorate the castle park. Nowadays, the castle serves as a retirement house, but the 21 ha large castle park is open to the public.

Bedřich Hrozný Museum is an exposition in a newly reconstructed Baroque building, which is a cultural monument. The exhibition focuses on regional history, and on the area of the ancient Near East and scientific activity of Bedřich Hrozný, who was a leading Orientalist and decipherer of the Hittite language.

Notable people

 * Franz Anton von Sporck (1662–1738), literatus and patron of the arts
 * Bedřich Hrozný (1879–1952), Orientalist and linguist
 * František Janouch (1931–2024), nuclear physicist

Twin towns – sister cities
Lysá nad Labem is twinned with:
 * 🇨🇿 Břeclav, Czech Republic
 * 🇵🇱 Głogów Małopolski, Poland
 * 🇺🇦 Kukeziv, Ukraine