Humpolec

Humpolec consists of 12 municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):{{cite web |title=Public Census 2021 – basic data|url=https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt-parametry&z=T&f=TABULKA&sp=A&skupId=4690&katalog=33475&pvo=SLD21043-CO|work=Public Database|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|date=2022}}

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• Humpolec (8,819)
• Brunka (33)
• Hněvkovice (391)
• Kletečná (179)
• Krasoňov (263)
• Lhotka (36)
• Petrovice (167)
• Plačkov (173)
• Rozkoš (293)
• Světlice (171)
• Světlický Dvůr (65)
• Vilémov (245)

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The name is derived from the German personal name Gumpolt. The oldest written form of the name was Gumpoldis in Latin.{{cite book |last=Profous|first=Antonín|title=Místní jména v Čechách I: A–H|url=https://mjc.ujc.cas.cz/search.php|pages=795–796|year=1947|language=cs}}

Humpolec is located about {{convert|22|km|abbr=on}} northwest of Jihlava, roughly halfway between Prague and Brno. It lies in the Křemešník Highlands. The highest point is the hill Krásná vyhlídka at {{convert|663|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level. There is a significant amount of small fishponds; some of them are in the urban area.

The first written mention of Humpolec is from 1178. In the 13th–15th centuries it was a silver mining town. Humpolec became known for drapery production from the 17th century, which reached its peak in the 19th century.{{cite web |title=Historie|url=http://infohumpolec.cz/infocentrum/historie/historie.html|publisher=Tourist Information Centre Humpolec|language=cs|access-date=2021-10-22}}

{{historical populations

|align=none|cols=3

|1869|8192

|1880|8514

|1890|9110

|1900|9152

|1910|9150

|1921|8812

|1930|8317

|1950|7706

|1961|8955

|1970|9727

|1980|10786

|1991|11122

|2001|10929

|2011|11024

|2021|10835

|source=Censuses{{cite web |title=Historický lexikon obcí České republiky 1869–2011|url=https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/historicky-lexikon-obci-1869-az-2015|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|date=2015-12-21}}{{cite web |title=Population Census 2021: Population by sex|url=https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt-parametry&z=T&f=TABULKA&sp=A&skupId=4429&katalog=33515&pvo=SLD21001-OB-OK|work=Public Database|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|date=2021-03-27}}}}

Humpolec is traditionally an industrial town. The largest employers are Valeo Compressor Europe, a manufacturer of compressors for cars,{{cite web |title=Valeo Humpolec|url=https://www.valeo.com/cs/ceska-republika-humpolec-vyrobni-zavod/|publisher=Valeo Compressor Europe s.r.o.|language=cs|access-date=2021-10-22}} the Family Brewery Bernard, which was established in 1597, and BJS Czech (a manufacturer of furniture).{{cite web |title=Registr ekonomických subjektů|url=https://csu.gov.cz/registr_ekonomickych_subjektu|work=Business Register|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|access-date=2025-03-20}}

The D1 motorway from Prague to Brno passes through Humpolec.

The railway of local importance heading to Havlíčkův Brod begins here.{{cite web |title=Detail stanice Humpolec|url=https://www.cd.cz/stanice/humpolec/5455813|publisher=České dráhy|language=cs|access-date=2024-05-19}}

File:Humpolec by air - panoramio.jpg

The Church of Saint Nicholas was originally an early Gothic church, rebuilt in 1721–1722 in the Gothic-Baroque style by Jan Santini Aichel. Its current Neo-Gothic form is a result of the reconstruction in 1895.{{cite web |title=Kostel sv. Mikuláše|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/kostel-sv-mikulase-12806428|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-05-30}}

The Evangelical church was built in the Historicist style in 1862, and the tower was added in 1890–1891. Together with the rectory from 1854 and the evangelical school, it forms an area protected as a cultural monument.{{cite web |title=Evangelický kostel s farou a školou|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/evangelicky-kostel-s-farou-a-skolou-7051188|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-05-30}}

Since 2022, the chimney of the Family Brewery Bernard has a public observation deck in a height of {{convert|33|m}}, which is accessible over a spiral staircase with 189 steps. It is a part of the Visitor Centre of the brewery.{{cite web |title=Bernard otevřel v Humpolci nové lákadlo, rozhlednu na pivovarském komíně|url=https://www.idnes.cz/jihlava/zpravy/rozhledna-pivo-bernard-turiste-navstevnik-komin-humpolec.A220531_667347_jihlava-zpravy_mv|publisher=iDNES.cz|language=cs|date=2022-06-03|access-date=2023-12-27}}

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• Jan Želivský (1380–1422), priest
• Aleš Hrdlička (1869–1943), Czech-American anthropologist
• Josef Stránský (1872–1936), composer and conductor
• Anna Sychravová (1873–1925), politician
• Jaroslav Augusta (1878–1970), painter
• Anděla Kozáková-Jírová (1897–1986), lawyer
• Jan Zábrana (1931–1984), writer and translator; lived here as a child
• Ivan Martin Jirous (1944–2011), poet, underground writer and dissident
• Joseph Drapell (born 1940), Czech-Canadian painter
• Dusan Kadlec (1942–2018), Czech-Canadian painter
• Miluše Horská (born 1959), politician
• David Holoubek (born 1980), football manager
• Jan Kopic (born 1990), footballer

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{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic}}

Humpolec is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Radniční listy červen 2019|url=https://www.mesto-humpolec.cz/assets/File.ashx?id_org=4932&id_dokumenty=232802|publisher=Město Humpolec|page=2|language=cs|date=June 2019|access-date=2020-09-10}}

• {{flagicon|SVK}} Námestovo, Slovakia

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Humpolec}}

• {{official|https://www.mesto-humpolec.cz/}}
• [http://infohumpolec.cz/ Information Centre of Humpolec]

{{Pelhřimov District}}

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Category:Cities and towns in the Czech Republic

Category:Populated places in Pelhřimov District