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History of the Town:
The town was given its name after a stream, which was referred to as Rícka (Little river) in historical sources, and called Bystricka by the locals.
The town was established in the 13th century in a very good setting. It soon became the administrative center of the area colonized by the noblemen of Medlov, later called Pernštejn; an aristocratic family with wisent’s head in the crest. There was a document from 1220 that was considered the earliest record of Bystrice. However, it proved to be a forgery created by a Bystrice native Antonín Bocek, Moravian historiographer based in Brno. Thus only the document created between 1258 and 1298, falsely claiming 1238 as the year of origin, can be considered the earliest written record of the town.
Sometime between 1235 and 1238 there was a church built in Bystrice. Its consecration to St Lawrence is quite typical for settlements established as local centers in the 13th century.
Several 14th century transfers of property suggest that by then Bystrice had already become an industrial, administrative and business center of surrounding villages of the Pernštejn land.
Bystrice became a town before 1348. At that time it also became the property of Moravian margraves and that is why their symbol appeared on the seal. In 1403 Vilém of Pernštejn grants Bystrice the right of escheat and freedom to sell both movable and immovable property.
In 1458 king Ladislav affirmed the town’s right to organize annual St Ludmila’s fairs and in 1477 also St John’s and St Wenceslaus’s fairs were celebrated. From the beginning of the 15th century to 1588 Bystrice in fact belonged to the family of Pernštejn. Under their rule, mainly under the rule of Vilém and Vratislav, the town flourished and during the first half of the 16th century it was at the height of its fame.
1580 is the year of the biggest importance in the history of the town. At that time, emperor Rudolf II granted Bystrice the status of town together with new privileges. On that occasion the town also received a new crest: ‘The crest has a shield of yellow or golden color. From the top to the bottom it will be divided into two by a stroke of blue or glaze color. On the right of the shield half of a wisent’s head is to be pictured, and a withe is to run through its nostrils. The left part of the crest is to show a half of a bird – an eagle with stretched wings painted in black’. At the same time Bystrice gained the right to seal by red wax.
After Vratislav of Pernštejn died, the town had several owners and its development came to a halt. The town was also badly affected by the Thirty Years' War. After armies marched through the area several times, the town and surrounding villages were ravaged.
Originally an early Gothic church from the 13th century went through several reconstructions. The naves and choirs were built only after 1699 and gave the church its late Baroque character. The two towers in the frontage were built after the demolition of the previous tower in 1750.
There is one more church in Bystrice. It is the Renaissance Church of the Holy Trinity, located at the local cemetery from 1615. Originally it was an Evangelical church. On Cerný Vršek (the Black hill) there is Baroque St Anna’s Chapel from 1749. In Bratrská Street there used to be the Chapel of Bohemian Brethren. The hospital was first mentioned in historical records in 1465.
From 1501 on Bystrice had its town hall. The town hall as it looks today was built on the square in 1808. Today the Town Museum can be found there. There are two houses under historical protection on the square: number 1 – the Museum, number 52 from 1756, and numbers 62 and 64.
There is a fountain on the square from 1845 with statues of Cyril and Method. Above the fountain there’s the Column of Virgin Mary from 1727 with the four patrons of the town – St John of Nepomuk, St Lawrence, St Sebastian and St Florien. On the upper end of the square there is a sandstone cross with Pieta from 1881.
In front of the elementary school in Tyrš Street there is a statue of T.G. Masaryk by Vincenc Makovský, allegedly the nicest among all statues of Masaryk.
The development of Bystrice is closely related to the introduction of railway into town in June 1905 and mainly to the expansion of uranium industry in Dolní Rožínka at the end of 1950s. Due to uranium industry, two new settlements were established and the population grew to 8,600. Bystrice was given its tag "nad Pernštejnem" on May 10th, 1925. Between 1949 and 1960 Bystrice was recognized as the official center of the district and initially 93 villages belonged to its province. Bystrice health center was built in 1963. In the 1970s the square acquired a new appearance with the arrival of new shops, offices and institutions. This trend has been most visible since 1990. In 1953 there was a new grammar school opened. In 1997 construction of a new, modern building of the school was completed. Moreover, in 1953 a four-year vocational school of agriculture was opened (SZTŠ). The building of the school from 1961 belonged to the most modern of its kind in Europe.