Lysá nad Labem is firstly mentioned in the Cosmas chronicle. In the 13th century, a castle was built here and until the reign of the Luxembourgs, the town was property of the Czech queens. Since 1291, there has been evidence of Lysá being a town. In that year, Queen Guta issued a charter to unite the settlements of the Lysá estate into one economic unit. During the Hussite wars the town suffered a lot. At the turn of the 15th and 16th century, the Smiřický family of Smiřice rebuilt the castle into the palace. In 1548 Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor added Lysá to the intimate dominion as a hunting centre. The sustainable development of the town was stopped by the Thirty Years' War. Armed uprising, which burst in the town during the violent recatholisation, is the proof of the presence of the evangelical element until the Battle of White Mountain. The immediate reaction to the religious tolerance was the establishment of the group of the Reformed church, whose compound is still one of the cultural monuments of the town. In 1647, Lysá was acquired by the empire general Johann von Sporck and then the town began to flourish. After the general’s death, his son Franz Anton von Sporck began to reign. He made the most important changes in 1696 when the Augustinian monastery was restored and the new parish church and the chapel of Three Kings were built. Nowadays, the palace serves as a House for seniors. In 1950, the village of Litol was connected to the town.
Monuments
The important buildings of the town are the Augustinian monastery, neighbouring with baroque palace and the church in the Baroque style as well. Baroque monuments are here thanks to the reign of count Franz Anton von Sporck, who invited many Baroque artists to the town. The most famous of them was sculptor Matthias Braun. Braun with his pupils sculpted many statues for the town, many of which decorate the palace garden. Another interesting place is the museum of oriental cultures, dedicated to the local native Bedřich Hrozný, who deciphered the hieroglyphic script of the Hittites.
Places to visit
Nowadays, Lysá nad Labem is most famous for the horse racing course and its exhibition grounds where many thematic exhibitions are held during the whole year.
