A dominant feature of the town centre is the hill Svatá hora at 590 m (1,940 ft) above sea level.

The Bishopric of Prague invited new settlers to the market town and a period of prosperity began.

In the 15th century, the majority of the population was Czech, but there were also Germans who came to the area around the market town to mine silver.

However, the temporary administrators were not interested in the development of the market town, which meant a gradual decline.

This lasted until 1579, when Emperor Rudolf II promoted Příbram to the royal mining town.

[4] The Thirty Years' War had a large impact on Příbram, lowering the population and causing violent recatholicization that was supported by the growing importance of Svatá Hora, nearby the pilgrimage site.

This turned out to be a mistake, as in the 18th century Příbram became the site of the most profitable silver mining in the entire Habsburg monarchy.

The importance of Příbram mines declined after 1900, but the town's reputation as the educational and cultural centre remained high.

Student Antonín Stočes, his father, and Příbram's gymnasium director Josef Lukeš were executed in Tábor in 1942 following the assassination of Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich.

The industry was included into a program of penal labour that communist Czechoslovak government used for persecution of regime objectors.

[9] Located near the Brdy military area, Příbram was an important locality during the 1968 Occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact forces.

The rioting of Příbram-Bytíz crime prisoners and the strike of Příbram miners were the other major events related to the August 1968 invasion.

At the end of the 1980s, when the mining was slowly derogating, the basic Příbram corporations included Český státní uranový průmysl ("Czech State Uranium Industry"), Rudné doly ("Ore Mines") and suppliers such as ZRUP – Základna rozvoje uranového průmyslu ("Base of Uranium Industry Development") and others.

The largest industrial employer is Ravak, the biggest producer of baths and shower-baths in central and eastern Europe.

Thanks to the high level of education and cultural life in the town, Příbram was nicknamed Podbrdské Atény ("Athens below Brdy") at the end of the 19th century.

It has been located in its current building since 1984 and bears the name of Jan Drda, who is the most famous writer born in Příbram.

[20] Příbram was the site of the Mining University, the tradition of which still continues today however the institution was moved to Ostrava in 1945.

In 2005 the College of European and Regional Studies (Czech: Vysoká škola evropských a regionálních studií, VŠERS) with seat in České Budějovice opened its affiliate in Příbram, with 30 students in the courses.

Gymnasium Příbram was founded 1871 and serves as a general educational propaedeutics institutions for applicants for university studies.

At the beginning of the 20th century the national conflicts lead to attempts to move Leoben academy to Vienna, while the Příbram school should have been dissolved.

In 1904 both Leoben and Příbram institutions were renamed Mining Academy (Czech: Vysoká škola báňská) with Josef Theurer as the first chancellor.

World War II and the closure of Czech universities interrupted the work of the institution, which was resumed in 1945.

It is the oldest and most important Marian pilgrimage site in Bohemia, protected as a national cultural monument.

The cult of the statue of Saint Mary of Svatá Hora began in the 14th century, when, according to legend, it was carved by Bishop Arnošt of Pardubice himself.

This Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Svatá Hora was built according to the design of the architects Carlo Lurago and Benjamin Schleyer, and decorated by Jan Brokoff, Petr Brandl and other famous artists.

The complex is connected to the town by a 450 m (1,480 ft) long staircase from 1685, which was roofed in 1727–1728, and Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer also participated in the final form.

The most valuable interior decoration includes two wood carvings by Ignác František Platzer and a tin baptismal font from 1511.

It was originally a wooden fort, rebuilt into a small stone castle in the mid-14th century, which served as the archbishop's residence.

[35] The Church of Saint Procopius was originally a chapel from 1732, which replaced a wooden bell tower from the 16th century.

[36] The youngest ecclesiastical building is the temple of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in memory of Master Jacob of Mies.