Milevsko City  - Official website

The nearest town environs were already settled down in the Older Stone Age. There are also the archaeological findings from the New Bronze Age, Hallstadt and Lathen Periods. Slavonic settlement is documented from the 8th century. Milevsko was a very important crossroad of trade routes directed behind the Vltava river at the end of the 12th century. At that time it was also the domicile of the rich magnate George of Milevsko, founder of the Premonstratensian Monastery (1187). The religious came to Milevsko from Zeliv under the leadership of abbot Jarloch who was the continuator of the Cosmas Chronicle between 1167 and 1198. The monastery belonged to the most rich ones in Bohemia and it was the cultural and economic centre of the region. The monuments which have been preserved up to the present days predicate about its florescence. The monastery was burnt down by Hussites in 1420 and the nobility became the owner of the property. They were the Rozmberk family first until 1543 followed by Svamberks then and between 1581 and 1621 it was owned by Hodejov family when it was transformed into the feudal residence.

The monastery was given back to the Premonstratensians of Strahov monastery in 1622. It has been no longer independent. In 1785 the Emperor Josef II. made i decision to close down the monastery in Milevsko but it has remained as Strahov economic centre property. The town development has been always connected to the monastery life. It was first documented in written in 1327. The first municipal rights the town obtained as business and crafts centre in the 15th century. In the 17th and 18th century the town and its surroundings suffered from wars and the following plague. It belonged to the poorest areas of our country in the 19th century. Traditional crafts were developed above all the pottery. Milevsko markets were also famous and they were re-established in present days. Masquerades tradition is popular till today.