ZLIN
Zlin is a city in Zlinsky kraj (region), in southeastern
Moravia, Czech Republic, on the Drevnice River, at
49°14'N 17°39'E.
The first written record of Zlin dates from 1332. Zlin
became town in 1397. The town grew rapidly after Tomas
Bata founded a shoe factory there in 1894 (~3,000
dwellers). Bata's factory came to supply the Austro-Hungarian
army in World War I. Bata designed the town as he saw
fit until his death in 1932 (~35,000 dwellers!). Bata
involved the best architects to build up a modern city,
still one of the best examples of constructivism. His
son Thomas was forced to leave by the Nazis in 1939 and
again after the war when the Bata company was
nationalized. (He left for Canada where he founded
another model community, named Batawa).
Zlin was merged in 1948 with several surrounding
communities to form Gottwaldov, named after the first
communist president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald.
In 1990 the whole city was renamed Zlin. |