Plasy (ˈplasɪ; ) is a small town in the Plzeň Region

Plzen Region

Plzeň Region is an administrative unit in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň .- Communes :...

 of the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. It lies on the Střela River, some to the north from the region capital of Plzeň.

Plasy is also a Municipality with Commissioned Local Authority within the Kralovice

Kralovice

Kralovice is a town in the Pilsen Region of the Czech Republic. The town is situated about in the North-East from Pilsen.Kralovice is also a Municipality with Extended Competence....

 Municipality with Extended Competence.

No important industry is located in the town. With its scenic surroundings, the town is an important tourist center.

Cistercian monastery

It is famous for its huge Cistercian monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 founded in 1144, which was rebuilt between 1661 and 1739 under the guidance of J. B. Mathey and J. B. Santini

Jan Santini Aichel

Jan Blažej Santini Aichel was a Czech architect of Italian descent, whose major works represent a curious amalgam of the Gothic and Baroque styles.-Biography:...

 and became an important center of Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 art. After Emperor Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

 abolished nearly all religious orders in the Habsburg Empire, the monastery became the seat of the Princes of Metternich.

Today, the monastery is owned by the state and it has deteriorated quite badly, nevertheless it is being slowly restored (and remains opened to public). There are also some regional archives placed there.

History

Plasy grew up around the Cistercian monastery, which stands on the site of earlier princely courts. Joseph II closed the monastery in 1785. At the beginning of the 19th century Plasy was still seen as a town or village, an extension of the former monastery. The situation remained unchanged until 1850, when the first municipal council elections were held. Once Prince Metternich took control, iron ore factories were quickly constructed; the access roads to them pulled down some of the monastic complex, including a church. At the beginning of the 19th century the state highway from Pilsen to Žatec began. Although the road caused the disappearance of a former monastery garden, it brought economic advantages. A railway along the state road brought further advantages. An attempt to elevate Plasy status to town in 1906 was unsuccessful. After World War I, the local labor movement sought to strengthen its influence. In 1920 the town decided to electrify, by using district power, rather than attempting to generate its own.

Resources

(The History section comes substantially from selected sentences in the Czech Wikipedia article, and used an automatic translation tool.)