Industrial Kladno lies 25 kilometers northwest of Prague (381 metres above sea level), it is the largest town of the Central Bohemia Region (about 68,000 inhabitants) and the centre of Kladno-Rakovník coal basin. In the proximity of the town, however, we can also find a number of protected landscape areas, e.g. natural reserve Křivoklátsko or landscape park Džbán. Kožová hora (465 metres) with a 35-metre high watchtower is a popular beaty-spot.
The place is first mentioned in the year 1318 within the context of the family of Kladenský of Kladno. In the year 1561 the settlement was declared a little town. At the beginning of the 19th century, Kladno was still a little-known town with a Gothic Church of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption, a Renaissance chateau and a Baroque St. Florian Chapel by K. I. Dienzenhofer.
In the year 1840, deposits of black coal were discovered and it started a quick development of both the town and industry: in the year 1850 the first mine called Lucerna (the Lantern) and in the year 1889 the iron and steel works called Poldi were established. That originated the labour movement connected with the names of a communist politician Antonín Zápotocký and writer Marie Majerová.
During the years Kladno has not lost its industrial characteristics and remains a significant economic centre of the Central Bohemia Region with modern housing development and rich cultural background.
Not far from Kladno there is a place closely related to the history of Czechoslovakia: Lány. In the year 1592 Rudolph II had a Renaissance hunting-lodge built here, later it was converted into a chateau in the early Baroque style. After the rise of the Czechoslovak Republic the chateau was redeemed by state and was used as a summer residence of the presidents. On the 14th of September 1937 the first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk died there and he was buried at the local cemetery with his wife Charlotta, son Jan and daughter Alice. In the times of political submission their burial-place became almost a pilgrimage place.
Another famous place near Kladno is Lidice, the tragic symbol of the end of the 2nd World War. In revenge for the assassination of Reich Protector R. Heydrich, on the 10th of June 1942 the village of Lidice was razed to the ground, men were slaughtered, women and children taken to concentration camps and for re-education. The name of Lidice became a symbol of the resistence against the violence.
After the 2nd World War a monument was built up in new Lidice and there was established a rose garden with roses from all over the world. Many artists dedicated their works to Lidice. The most touching is a sculptural group of 82 children, victims of war, the lifelong work of sculptress Marie Uchytilová. Lidice is the national cultural monument and a memorial service takes place here every year.
The Protestant congregation of Czech Brethren in Kladno used to be, from the year 1872, a preaching station of Prague’s Clement congregation. They became independent in the year 1912 and with the support of Clement and other congregations, they built a Neo-Classicist church with historicist elements according to the project by architect J. Blecha from Prague. This church, which we can find in General Klapálek Street, was ceremonially opened with a service on the 10th of November 1895. After ten years the rectory was added and in the year 1911 the organ was installed on the newly built gallery. The congregation survived the war years in the shadow of the tragedy in Lidice and they could not avoid the death toll, either.
In the recent years, the church building which lately celebrated 110 years of its existence, has undergone large repairs.