Svinov

Svinov (German: Schönbrunn) is an administrative district of the city of Ostrava, Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic. It lies on the bank of the Odra River, in the Silesian area of the city.

Map of Ostrava-Svinov, Czechia

The district lies in the historical region of Silesia and was first mentioned in a written document in 1265.

In 1847 a railway station was built, and Svinov became an important railway junction on the Austrian Northern Railway. Quick industrialization followed and several transport companies were established. Since then Svinov railway station has been connected to several other railway lines and today it is the most important railway station in the city of Ostrava.

According to the Austrian census of 1910 the village had 3,274 inhabitants, 3,144 of whom had permanent residence there. Census asked people for their native language; 706 (22.5%) were German-speaking, 2,264 (72%) were Czech-speaking, and 174 (5.5%) were Polish-speaking. Jews were not allowed to declare Yiddish, most of them thus declared the German language as their native. The most populous religious groups were Roman Catholics with 3,075 (93.9%), followed by the Jews with 124 (3.8%).

Svinov was formerly an independent municipality; in 1936 it gained town rights, and in 1957 it became a part of Ostrava.