Štětsko

The municipality of Brocno, called Brozen by Germans, is about 6 km from the town of Štětí. At the end of the 19th century, Brocno had 966 German residents, the highest number ever, living in 153 houses. In 2004, only 235 residents lived there. Since 1995, Brocno has been declared a folk architecture preservation zone.

Structural sightseeing

Brocno is first referred to in official deeds from the 14th century. In 1357, the Knight Epik from Hrádek sold his heritage seat - the Brocno manor - to the Prague-based Archbishop Ernest from Pardubice for the recently established university in Prague (1348). The most important sightseeing structure is the fortress. The fortress is located on a strategically favourable promontory by the southern border of the municipality and dates back to 1452. At the end of the 16th century, Kaplíř's family from Sulevice rebuilt the fortress in the Renaissance style. In 1623, Brocno is still referred to as a municipality with the fortress. After 1970, the chateau in the town which had been owned by the SEPAP paper mill from Štětí for twenty years, had permission to convert the chateau into a training centre, but the reconstruction did not even start. The abandoned and dilapidated chateau with the godforsaken, former park-style garden was privately sold after 1990. In the middle of the street-like village square, stands Jaršlovský Manor, a residential building. At the end of the 18th century, a late baroque granary with garret roof and pilasters was built on the site of the former manor. By the entrance of the farming courtyard there is a rectangular one-floor building with a garret roof. In 1949, the farmers of Brocno established the Unified Agricultural Cooperative and the courtyard became the administrative centre. Today, it is used as a warehouse by a private company. From a religious point of view, Brocno joined the vicarage in Chcebuz because it neither had its own church nor chapel. In the middle of the village square is a building with a small tower identified as church building, perhaps the chapel of St. Prokop, as shown Müller's map dated 1720. However the diocese in Litoměřice does not claim it as its property. On an old photograph dated before World War One, the Star of David is clearly visible in a round window on the southern gable of the building. The building was used as a chapel for the large local Jewish community. Since World War II, the building has been used as a fire station. The chapel is currently being used by a local businessman for business negotiations. At the front of the southern gable of the building, there is a sculpture of St. Prokop on a square pedestal with the date 1711. Nothing is known about the origin of the sculpture. The sculpture was commemorated in 2006 upon the initiative of the Town Authority in Štětí.

Jewish intermezzo

A fairly large Jewish community lived in Brocno in the 19th and early 20th century. Each summer the community was enlarged by Jewish relatives and friends from Prague who spent part of the hot summer days in their summer flats. For religious services they used the chapel in the centre of the village square. One of the "summer residents" was the Prague-based German-Jewish painter Emil Orlík, who stayed with his uncle, Theodor Kuchler, the landlord. 

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