Kladno
I've come today to the industrial town of Kladno, around 25 kilometres west of Prague. The first recorded mention of Kladno comes from the middle of the 14th century when it was a village owned by the Kladensky family. Centuries later it was bought by the Benedictine monks from the Brevnov monastery, who were its owners until 1848.
What was once an agricultural market town changed greatly in the middle of the 19th century with the discovery of coal and, in 1854, the setting up of the town's first steelworks, the Vojtech Smelting Works, which their Czech owner Vojtech Lana named after himself.
Jiri Kovarik works at the Strojirny Poldi museum in Kladno. Poldi - the name of the town's second steelworks - made Kladno internationally famous, he says.
"The Austrian industrialist Karl Wittgenstein set the company up in 1889 and named it after his wife. She was Leopoldina, Poldi for short. Four years after the steelworks were founded the company registered the trademark which it uses to this day. It's a silhouette of woman's head, with a five-pointed star above it. The star symbolised Poldi's plan to reach the five continents, which they achieved."
By the way, Karl and Leopoldina Wittgenstein had many children, including a son called Ludwig - yes, that Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century.
Poldi produced more refined steel than the Vojtech Smelting Works, and became an important company on the world stage between the wars. At one point it had stores and offices in 38 countries. Given the company's international presence it was not surprising that steel from Kladno was used in many significant engineering projects around the world, says Jiri Kovarik, who offers one very interesting example.
"In this display case there's a model of the Thunderbolt, which was driven by Britain's George Eyson and in 1937 became the first vehicle to go at more than 500 kilometres an hour. The makers used materials produced by us."
When the Communists came to power Kladno's two steelworks were merged, and with a workforce of 20,000 the unimaginatively named "Combined Steelworks" completely dominated the town. Today Poldi Strojirny is in private ownership and has around 700 workers.
"The company has lost its importance in the town. A company employing 20,000 is bound to have a huge influence in any town. Today we're just one company among many."
Among the many thousands who have worked at Poldi over the years is one name you might recognise: Bohumil Hrabal, the much-loved author of Closely Observed Trains and I Served the King of England.
"Bohumil Hrabal worked here in the 1950s as a casual worker. Many listeners may know the film Larks on a String, by Jiri Menzel. The film is quite autobiographical, and is based on short stories by Hrabal. He also wrote a longer work with the self-explanatory title Beautiful Poldi".
Another name associated with Kladno is Antonin Cermak, who left the town as a boy and later became the mayor of Chicago. He made headlines around the world when he was assassinated in 1933, and the city still has a Cermak Street.
Kladno, with its smokestacks and prefabricated flats, is not a pretty town, although the Town Hall is quite impressive, as is the Kostel nanebevzeti Panny Marie, or the Church of the Assumption, in English.
By the way, Kladno's main square is named the Square of Mayor Pavel, after Frantisek Pavel, who was the head of the local council here when the Nazis occupied the Czech lands. The Nazis arrested all the members of the local council and killed Mayor Pavel.
Kladno lies less than 30 kilometres from Prague. I asked Town Hall spokesman Ladislav Pavlik if the town wasn't somewhat overshadowed by the capital.
"To some extent you could say that Kladno is in Prague's shadow. Many local people commute to work in the capital, but then many people commute to Kladno from Prague too. Our town used to be known as "red" or "black Kladno", after the steelworks and the mines. Now, though, we like to describe it as "colourful Kladno"; it offers many things Prague can't like a quieter life and many outdoor activities. There's a green belt around the town, we have cycle paths, a new 'aquapark' and that kind of thing."
As you can hear, Ladislav Pavlik is keen to point out attractions of "colourful Kladno". Among them are, perhaps surprisingly, two bears.
"In the gardens of Kladno castle we have a bear enclosure, with two female bears called Marta and Misa. They seem to be a mother and daughter but we're not sure, because they didn't have any papers. They were abandoned in a terrible condition by a Russian circus in the town of Moravske Budejovice. The first year they were here they were in a really bad state but now they have got used to living here and have even hibernated, which shows that they like it here."
Kladno is closely connected with the sport of ice hockey and, says Mr Pavlik, when the local club was relegated from the top league for one season it was regarded as a "tragedy" in the town. It is also the birthplace of Czech hockey megastar Jaromir Jagr, and that's something which has helped put the town on the map.
"The name Jagr is connected with Kladno. We have a great tradition of ice hockey here and Jaromir Jagr has contributed to that. All our young players would like to emulate him. His father, Jaromir Jagr Sr., was also a hockey player and is a big fan of Kladno today. He's also well known in locally as the owner of one of the town's biggest building companies."
And before we say goodbye to Kladno, a little about the local language. The Czech word for somebody from Kladno is Kladenak, though that name should not be confused with Kladenka, the well-known local variety of ham. Ladislav Pavlik again.
"It's called Kladenka, and its one of several local smoked meat products. The tradition is connected with the fact that there were mines here and the smelting works; these foods were simple and the workers ate them for energy. As for Kladenka in particular, it's more greasy and fatty than other types of ham."
