The name is of topographic origins derived from petroleum (ropa in Czech and Polish).[2]
Geography
Ropice is located about 18 km (11 mi) east of Frýdek-Místek and 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Ostrava, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It lies in the Moravian-Silesian Foothills. The highest point is the hill Štěpnice at 359 m (1,178 ft) above sea level. The Ropičanka Stream flows through the municipality. The Olza River forms the northeastern municipal border.
History
Lutheran cemetery with a chapel
The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what will be later known as Upper Silesia. Ropice was first mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis from around 1305 as Ropiza. Politically Ropice belonged to the Duchy of Teschen (1297 described bilaterally as part of Poland), since 1327 within the Kingdom of Bohemia.[3][4]
The village became a seat of a Catholic parish, mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among 50 parishes of Teschen deanery as Ropicza.[5] After the 1540s Protestant Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and a local Catholic church was taken over by Lutherans. It was taken from them (as one from around fifty buildings in the region) by a special commission and given back to the Roman Catholic Church on 26 March 1654.[6]
In the early 15th century, a fortress was built in Ropice. The first known owners of Ropice were the Sobek family in 1430. The family owned the village until 1693. Around 1700, Ropice was acquired by Filip Saint Genois. He had rebuilt the fortress into a Baroque castle in the early 18th century. In 1785 the Saint Genois family sold Ropice to the Celesta family, who had made Neoclassical renovation of the castle in 1810.[3]
After Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the political and legal district of Cieszyn. According to the censuses conducted in 1880–1910 the population of the municipality grew from 1,156 in 1880 to 1,291 in 1910 with a majority being native Polish-speakers (between 95.5% and 97.8%) accompanied by a small German-speaking minority (at most 39 or 3% in 1910) and Czech-speaking people (at most 19 or 1.5% in 1910).[3] In terms of religion in 1910 the majority were Roman Catholics (53%), followed by Protestants (47%).[7]
Ropice Castle was confiscated by the state in 1945 and until the 1970s it was used as a school. Then it was uninhabited and fell into disrepair. It is currently privately owned and since 2011 gradually reconstructed.[13]
A parish church was built here in the second half of the 14th century and first mentioned in 1447. In 1733–1736 the Baroque Church of Saint Catherine was built, but was replaced by a new church in 1806 that was consecrated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.[3]
^Mrózek, Robert (1984). Nazwy miejscowe dawnego Śląska Cieszyńskiego [Local names of former Cieszyn Silesia] (in Polish). Katowice: University of Silesia in Katowice. p. 151. ISSN0208-6336.
^Broda, Jan (1992). "Materiały do dziejów Kościoła ewangelickiego w Księstwie Cieszyńskim i Państwie Pszczyńskim w XVI i XVII wieku". Z historii Kościoła ewangelickiego na Śląsku Cieszyńskim (in Polish). Katowice: Dom Wydawniczy i Księgarski „Didache“. pp. 259–260. ISBN83-85572-00-7.
Czech Republic
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