Návsí

Návsí Nawsie
—  Village  —
Railway station
Flag Coat of arms
Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 49°35′25″N 18°45′10″E / 49.59028°N 18.75278°E / 49.59028; 18.75278
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Moravian-Silesian
District	Frýdek-Místek
First mentioned	1435
Government
– Mayor	Lenka Husarová
Area
– Total	19.63 km2 (7.6 sq mi)
Elevation	386 m (1,266 ft)
Population (2006)
– Total	3,810
– Density	194.1/km2 (502.7/sq mi)
Postal code	739 91, 739 92
Website	http://www.navsi.cz/

 Návsí (help·info) (Polish: Nawsie (info), Cieszyn Silesian: Nowsi (info)) is a village in Frýdek-Místek District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 3,765 (2001 census); 24% of the population are Poles.^[1]

It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, on the both banks of the Olza River, between Silesian and Moravian-Silesian Beskids mountain ranges. Mountain meadow of Filipka lies just north of the village. It offers great view of the Olza River valley and peaks of Moravian-Silesian Beskids.

Nawsie was originally a part of Old Jabłonków, but nearby a new settlement emerged (Jabłonków) and Nawsie became a separate village. The village is first mentioned as Nawsie in a written document in 1577. Beginnings of the village can be traced much earlier. In 1435 Wacław I, Duke of Cieszyn gave a privilege to Paweł Sikora to establish a farming community. Návsí lies on the old trade route going from today's Slovakia to Cieszyn, thus offering good trading opportunities. Craftsmen began to settle in the village. However, village's location had also negative consequences, frequent marches of various armies and frequent Olza floodings caused that in the second half of the 17th century almost one third inhabitants left the village. Sikora family managed the village to 19th century. In 1791 a wooden Protestant church was built, bricked one in 1820. Village developed quickly after 1871 construction of Kassa-Oderberg railway line which runs through the village. Large railway station was built here.

According to the Austrian census of 1910 the village had 2,249 inhabitants, 2,188 of whom had permanent residence there. The census asked people for their native language, 2,114 (96.6%) were Polish-speaking and 62 (2.8%) were German-speaking. The most populous religious groups were Protestants with 1,449 (64.4%) and Roman Catholics with 783 (34.8%).^[2]

In 1914 Polish Marshall Józef Piłsudski spent with his legions his first World War I Christmas Eve at the parish of local Protestant church.^[3]

After the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the village became part of Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938, Návsí and the whole Zaolzie region was annexed by Poland. The village was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia.

From 1960 to 1994 it was administratively a part of Jablunkov.

People

• Tadeusz Michejda - Polish physician and politician, was born here
• Władysław Michejda - Polish lawyer and mayor of Cieszyn, born here
• Władysław Młynek - Polish poet and writer, spent here most of his life

Footnotes

1. ^ "2001 census data". Czech Statistical Office. http://www.czso.cz/sldb/sldb2001.nsf/obce/554014?OpenDocument. 
2. ^ Ludwig Patryn (ed): Die Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1910 in Schlesien, Troppau 1912.
3. ^ Nowak 2008, 16.

References

• Cicha, Irena; Kazimierz Jaworski, Bronisław Ondraszek, Barbara Stalmach and Jan Stalmach (2000). Olza od pramene po ujście. Český Těšín: Region Silesia. ISBN 80-238-6081-X. 

• Nowak, Krzysztof (2008). "Polskość i ruch narodowy". In Krzysztof Nowak. Pierwsza Niepodległość. Cieszyn: Urząd Miejski Cieszyn. pp. 7–17. ISBN 978-83-89835-40-6. 

External links

• (Czech) Official website

Coordinates: 49°35′25″N 18°45′10″E / 49.59028°N 18.75278°E / 49.59028; 18.75278