Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Jáchymov
Summary
Jáchymov (ˈjaːxɪmof; Sankt Joachimsthal or Joachimsthal) is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,400 inhabitants.
Jáchymov has a long mining tradition, thanks to which it used to be the second most populous town in the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1534. At first silver was mined here. The silver Joachimsthaler coins minted here since the 16th century gave their name to the Thaler and the dollar. After the Wieliczka Salt Mine ceased industrial exploitation in 2007, the Svornost mine (1525) became the oldest mine still in use in Europe. It is also the first and for a long time the only mine in the world, where radium was mined.
The mining cultural landscape of Jáchymov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a part of the Ore Mountain Mining Region. The historic centre of the town is well preserved and protected as an urban monument zone.
Villages of Mariánská, Nové Město, Suchá and Vršek are administrative parts of Jáchymov.
The town was founded in a nameless valley called in German just Thal (i.e. "valley"). Later it was named Sankt Joachimsthal after Saint Joachim, meaning "Saint Joachim's Valley". It later developed into the Czech name Jáchymov.
Jáchymov is located about north of Karlovy Vary, on the border with Germany. It lies in the Ore Mountains. The municipal territory includes the summit of the highest mountain of the whole mountain range, Klínovec at , and the third largest mountain, Božídarský Špičák at . The town proper is situated in a valley at an altitude of above sea level.
In 1512, silver was found in the area. The village of Jáchymov was founded by Štěpán Schlick in 1516 under its German name Joachimsthal. The silver caused the population to grow rapidly, and made the Counts of Schlick, whose possessions included the town, one of the richest families in Bohemia. In 1528, Ferdinand I seized the right of mining, and the Schlick family lost their profitable business.
Since 1520, the Schlicks had silver coins minted, which were called Joachimsthalers.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.