Pisek

Pisek, a town of Bohemia, 55 m. S. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900), 13,608, mostly Czech. It lies on the right bank of the Wottawa, which is here crossed by an interesting stone bridge of great antiquity. The most prominent buildings are the church of the Nativity, the town-hall, and a castle dating from the 15th century. The industries are iron and brass founding, brewing, and the manufacture of shoes, paper, cement and Turkish fezes. Feldspar, quartz and granite are quarried in the environs. The name of Pisek, which is the Czech for sand, is said to be derived from the gold-washing formerly carried on in the bed of the Wottawa (1571-1621).

In 1619 it was captured by the imperialist general, Karl Bonaventura de Longueval, Graf von Buquoy, and suffered so severely that the citizens opened their gates to his opponent, Ernst von Mansfeld. This was punished in October of the following year, when Duke Maximilian of Bavaria sacked the town and put nearly all the inhabitants to the sword. Pisek was one of the chief centres of the Hussites. It was occupied by the French in 1741.