# Hodonín

Hodonín (Czech pronunciation:; German: Göding) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants.

## Geography

Hodonín is located about 51 kilometres (32 mi) southeast of Brno, on the border with Slovakia. It lies in a flat landscape of the Lower Morava Valley. It is situated on the right bank of the Morava River, which forms here the Czech-Slovak border. The western municipal border is formed by the Kyjovka River, which supplies a set of eight fishponds there.

## History

The castle in Hodonín was founded sometime in the 11th century. However, the document from 1046 which was the oldest mention of the castle, is demonstrably a forgery.
The first written credible mention of Hodonín is from 1169. In 1228, it became a town. During the Thirty Years' War the town was severely damaged and the population decreased. In the 18th century a local castle was rebuilt to a tobacco factory, whose production helped repopulate the town. The railway to Hodonín was built in 1841, and extended to Holíč in 1891.
The northern part of the municipal territory, especially the hamlet of Pánov, retirement home and the Hodonín Zoo, was severely damaged by the 2021 South Moravia tornado.

## Demographics

| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1869 | 5,202 | — |
| 1880 | 6,512 | +25.2% |
| 1890 | 8,482 | +30.3% |
| 1900 | 10,233 | +20.6% |
| 1910 | 12,197 | +19.2% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1921 | 13,200 | +8.2% |
| 1930 | 14,793 | +12.1% |
| 1950 | 13,572 | −8.3% |
| 1961 | 18,021 | +32.8% |
| 1970 | 20,863 | +15.8% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1980 | 25,485 | +22.2% |
| 1991 | 28,230 | +10.8% |
| 2001 | 27,361 | −3.1% |
| 2011 | 24,961 | −8.8% |
| 2021 | 24,100 | −3.4% |
Source: Censuses :

## Economy

In the vicinity of the town there is an oil field and a stratum of lignite, which was formerly transported to the town of Otrokovice, a few kilometers from the city of Zlín, by the Baťa Canal, which was built by the Czech entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa and now operates as a tourist attraction.
The largest industrial employers based in the town are MND (oil and gas producer) and Delimax (manufacturer of delicatessen and fish products).

## Transport

The I/55 road (the section from Břeclav to Uherské Hradiště) passes through the town. There is a road border crossing and a railway border crossing, leading to neighbouring Holíč.
Hodonín is located on the intraregional railway lines Břeclav–Olomouc and Brno–Hodonín. There is also the line from Hodonín to Vrbovce in Slovakia.

## Sights

The main sights are the Church of Saint Lawrence and the town hall, both located on the town square. The church is originally a Gothic structure from the first half of the 13th century, baroque rebuilt in 1780–1786. The town hall was built in the Art Nouveau style in 1902–1904, by architect Ernst von Gotthilf in 1902–1904. Its tower is open to the public as a lookout tower.
The Hodonín Zoo was founded in 1977 and it is one of the smallest and youngest zoos in the country.

## Notable people

* Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), politician, the first president of Czechoslovakia
* Henry Kučera (1925–2010), linguist and pioneer of computer linguistics
* Václav Nedomanský (born 1944), ice hockey player
* Zdeněk Škromach (born 1956), politician
* Karel Komárek (born 1969), entrepreneur and philanthropist
* Dana Čechová (born 1983), table tennis player
* Vítězslav Veselý (born 1983), javelin thrower
* Michal Kempný (born 1990), ice hockey player

## Twin towns – sister cities

Hodonín is twinned with:
* Holíč, Slovakia
* Jasło, Poland
* Skalica, Slovakia
* Trebišov, Slovakia
* Zistersdorf, Austria