Bedrichovice

Bedřichovice is a village in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, about 3 kilometres to the East of Brno, an administrative part of Šlapanice (around 7.000 people). There are 308 inhabitants living at 122 permanent addresses. The village has a local municipal committee subordinate to the committee of Šlapanice.

Bedřichovice is written with special Czech vowels "ř" and "ch" (pronounced "ř" as "r" in the word "red", and "ch" as in the name Johann Sebastian "Bach"). The anglicized village name is Bedrichovice.

The village is located in a beautiful stretch of countryside, on the outskirts of a karst area (Moravský Kras) reaching far to the North of Brno. In geological terms, the area finds itself onto a bed of limestone (Drahanská Highland) and conglomerate called after Šlapanice, so-called Šlapanice Conglomerate, a specific variety of the stone. The type of rock bed has given rise to numerous rocky structures of varied sizes, mostly rather small crags and rocky hills rich in thermophilic flora displaying several endemites.

As far as the settlement of the area is concerned there exists a legend talking about three brothers named Bedřich (German: Friedrich, English: Frederic) – the alleged founder of Bedřichovice; Jiří (German: Georg, English: George) – the alleged founder of Jiříkovice, and Blažej (German: Blasius, English: Blaise) - the alleged founder of Blažovice. The villages have been important settlements of the area ever since.

Continuous settlements date as far back as the 8th or 9th centuries AD. The earliest historical written record on Bedřichovice comes from 1310 AD. At that time a part of the village was administered by clergical jurisdiction based in Brno´s major church of St. Peter and Paul. Written records of the time evidenced 5 homesteads and 1 mill in the village. The mill has been on the very same site for centuries.

Above the village a visitor will see a prominent hill called Žuráň (there are many speculations as to what the etimology of the name is). Although the hill counts as part of the neighbouring village of Podolí, it may be perceived as a distinct feature of Bedřichovice. The hill itself is a significant archaeological, historical and geographical location within the Central Europe. In 1853 an extensive cairn was excavated and revealed remains of a Langobard king Wacho who may have been buried at the site some time around 539. Another detailed archaeological excavation project was carried out at the site between 1948-1950 under Josef Poulík, an important archaeologist, educator and scholar.

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