Country Czech Republic District Strakonice Elevation 450 m Population 646 (2006) | Region South Bohemian Postal code 386 01 Area 13.91 km² | |
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Osek (German: Ossek) is a village and municipality (obec) in Strakonice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.
Contents
Map of 386 01 Osek, Czechia
Geography
Osek lies approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) north-east of Strakonice, 53 km (33 mi) north-west of České Budějovice, and 93 km (58 mi) south of Prague.
The municipality covers an area of 13.91 square kilometres (5.37 sq mi), and has a population of 646 (as at 28 August 2006). It includes the hamlets of Jemnice, Malá Turná, Petrovice, and Rohozná.
History
Vosek in the Kingdom of Bohemia was first mentioned in a 1392 deed. The local Brloh noble dynasty had a Renaissance castle erected in the 16th century. After the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, Osek was seized by the Bohemian Crown and purchased by Prince Karl I von Liechtenstein in 1623, who nevertheless again sold the manor shortly afterwards. From 1850 the village belonged to the nearby market town of Radomyšl, it formed a municipality in its own right in 1919.
On the Jewish cemetery near Osek is buried Franz Kafka's grandfather, the butcher (shochet) Jacob Amschel Kafka (1814–1889). Franz Kafka's father Hermann was born in Osek in 1852.