The town of Kolín (205 metres above sea level and almost 30,000 inhabitants) lies in the fertile Elbe lowlands. Traces of the first ancient settlement witness how favourable such a location on the river Elbe was. The first written record dates back to the year 1261. King Přemysl Otakar II founded a town, which quickly developed and expanded due to lucrative agriculture and business. During the Hussite Wars Kolín was supporting the Hussites. In the 15th century a strong castle was built, the town, however, could not keep away from all the disasters of the Thirty Years’ War which swept across all Bohemia. During the Seven Years’ War -(1756–1763), there was a battle between the Prussian and Austrian armies near the town.
The introduction of the railway after the year 1845 was of a great importance especially to the industrial development in Kolín. The town featured rich cultural and social life – let us mention just the popular band master František Kmoch; Kmochův Kolín, the festival of brass music bands, has survived till the present time. And only few people know that Kolín was a birthplace of Jakub Krčín of Jelčany, the builder of ponds in South Bohemia, poet J. S. Machar, literary scholar Otokar Fischer, painter Rudolf Kremlička and a number of other celebrities.
In Kolín there was a remarkable Jewish community. The Jewish cemetery from the 15th century, the Baroque synagogue and the memorial plaque for Jewish victims of the 2nd World War, all commemorate the history of Kolín’s Jews.
Nowadays, Kolín is an important industrial town, nevertheless a lot of attention should be paid to remarkable historical sights. The complex of the Church of St. Bartholomew was proclaimed a national cultural monument. It was built in the early Gothic style shortly after the town was established in the year 1260. In the year 1349 it burnt down and in the years 1360–1400 was rebuilt according to the project by Peter Parléř. The three-nave church with two steeples is a rare example of combination of early and late Gothic. Inside there are six choir chapels and precious tombstones from the Gothic to Baroque times. Sculptor František Bílek created Stations of the Cross for this church in the years 1910–1913. The bell tower dates back to the year 1504.
On the square we can see a Neo-Renaissance town hall with frescos by Adolf Liebscher and a number of valuable merchants’ houses.
The congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren in Kolín was established on the 16th of May 1868. At that time it was not easy to acquire a site for a church construction. Thanks to the devotion of some congregation members, the foundation stone was finally laid in May 1871 and already on the 17th of December 1871 there was the first service. In 1953 the church was rebuilt according to architect Bohumil Bareš’s design. The latest alterations were carried out according to the project of artist Barbora Veselá.
The congregation in Kolín also owns an imposing congregation house called Hus House with Dušek Hall, which is used for congregation activities. Let us mention who was Čeněk Dušek, after whom the congregation hall is called.
Čeněk Dušek, the first minister of the congregation, still belongs to the remarkable personalities among the Czech Protestants. He deepened his theological knowledge with studies abroad; he was most fond of Scotland. Besides his service in church, he taught at the Kolín’s grammar school not only religion but also English. And thanks to Čeněk Dušek, the grammar school enjoyed a good reputation and brougt up a number of significant Protestant theologians. Moreover, we should mention e.g. Vilém Mathesius, the founder of the department of English and American Studies at Prague’s Charles University and names such as Souček, Hrejsa, Boháč, who were Čeněk Dušek’s grammar school students and later, in December 1918, had a big share of merit in forming the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren when the former Czech churches of the Reformed and Lutheran congregations in Bohemia and Moravia were united. The congregation members in Kolín look well after the church buildings and use them not only for the Sunday services but also for other various church and public activities.