Neither did Olomouc experience lack of significant personalities in the early 19th century. It was not by accident that Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated his just-finished Missa Solemnis to the Olomouc Archbishop Rudolf of Habsburg in 1823.

In 1820 the Archbishop founded the first Olomouc park on the ramparts. The gardens were taken over by the city administration in 1832. The city's economic boom had long been hindered by the knit ring of city walls. The construction of the railroad was therefore of considerable importance to the city. The first train arrived in town with great fanfare in 1841. Three of the railway’s architects were even named honorary citizens of Olomouc. The turbulent events of the year 1848 meant a five-month stay of the Imperial court in Olomouc. The Emperor Franz Joseph I. ascended the throne in the Archbishop's Palace in that year.

Fortress and its abolition

In the following years Olomouc was witness to a number of international meetings, including the Punctation of Olmütz, a treaty between Prussia and Austria regulating the status of both states in the German Confederation signed here in 1850. Unfortunate was the abolition of the University in 1860, it was re-opened only in 1946. The city's fortification system, hampering economic and architectural development of the city was still being perfected in the years 1850-1866 by construction of forts around the city. Thy city tried in vain to get rid of the fortifications in 1868 and 1871. Finally, in 1886, Olomouc, along with the Terezin and Josefov fortresses, was relieved of its status of the fortress town by an Imperial decree. Construction activities broke out in full force in 1894. The appearance of newly constructed parts of the city was greatly influenced by the Regulatory Plan prepared by Camillo Sitte at the turn of the century.

The area of the city expanded from the original 53 hectare within the city walls to the total of 300 hectares in 1918. The industrial revolution, changing shape of cities in the 19th century, left its mark on Olomouc as well.There was more than just the above-mentioned railway's construction. The city gasworks were built in 1862 and the city waterworks in 1889. A municipal power station was finished in 1898 and a year later the first tram was already running in the city. The industry was developing fast - new factories, sugar mills, malt houses, a brewery, ironworks and others were built round the city. In 1918, Olomouc experienced turbulent events connected with the emergence of the Czechoslovak state.

Greater Olomouc

The majority of the city’s inhabitants were of Czech nationality, due to the creation of “Greater Olomouc” by absorbing of two towns (Hodolany and Nová ulice) and eleven villages (Bělidla, Černovír, Hejčín, Chválkovice, Lazce, Nové Sady, Nový Svět, Neředín, Pavlovičky, Povel and Řepčín) in 1919. Olomouc was hit hard by the Nazi occupation during 1939-1945 and the period after February 1948 was too a sad chapter in the town’s history. It is difficult to find any positive events in that time of “a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat ”. A positive aspect was undoubtedly the declaration of the historic inner city an urban conservation area which least partly eliminated efforts to "build a new world" where our ancestors had created unique cultural values. The communist era, however, left its traces everywhere, both in the centre and in the surrounding areas whether it be the Astronomical Clock rebuilt in the style of socialist realism, the "show-off“ department store built right in front of the St. Maurice Church or the walls of prefab houses on the city outskirts. The next generations will have to cope hard with consequences of this development.

The Nineties brought new hope for the city and its residents. However, Olomouc had to endure one more difficult test at the end of the century. The disastrous one-hundred-year flood in 1997 flooded more than a third of the city, leaving behind devastation in the neighborhoods bordering the River Morava - especially Černovír, Lazce and Nové Sady. The end of the century and the millennium was marked by an enjoyable event at last. The designating the Baroque Holy Trinity Column as a UNESCO World Heritage Site honours the work of Baroque artists and the care of our contemporaries about the preserved monument. It became a reason for large celebrations and a dignified conclusion of the second millennium.

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