History
Pilsen was first mentioned as a castle in 976, as the scene of a battle between Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia and Emperor Otto II. It became a town in 1295 when King Wenceslaus II granted Pilsen its civic charter and established a new town site, located some 10 km away from the original settlement, which is the current town of Stary Plzenec. It quickly became an important town on trade routes leading to Nuremberg and Regensburg; in the 14th century, it was the third-largest town in Bohemia after Prague and Kutna Hora. During the Hussite Wars, it was the centre of Catholic resistance to the Hussites: Prokop the Great unsuccessfully besieged it three times, and it joined the league of Romanist nobles against King George of Podebrady. In 1468, the town acquired a printing press; the Troyan Chronicle, the first book published in Bohemia, was printed on it.
Emperor Rudolf II made Pilsen his seat from 1599-1600. During the Thirty Years’ War the town was taken by Mansfeld in 1618 after the Siege of Plzen and it was not recaptured by the Imperialists until 1621. Wallenstein made it his winter-quarters in 1633. The town was unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedes in 1637 and 1648.
At the end of the 17th century, the architecture of Pilsen began to be influenced by the Baroque style. The historic city center has been under historic preservation since 1989.
On May 6, 1945, at the very end of World War II, Pilsen and Western Bohemia were liberated from Nazi Germany by General Patton’s 3rd Army; the rest of Czechoslovakia was liberated from German control by the Soviet Red Army. Patton withdrew a few days thereafter, in accordance with the agreements of the Allies. The Communist regime ensured that this liberation of Pilsen and Western Bohemia by the U.S. troops was mentioned fleetingly, if at all. Since 1990, the city has organized a yearly Liberation Festival taking place in May, which has already become a local tradition, and has been attended by many allied veterans.
In 1953, the totalitarian, USSR-oriented Czechoslovak government launched a currency reform. This decision caused a wave of uprising in many Czechoslovak cities, while the one of Pilsen was the strongest.

Education and Economy
Pilsen is a center of academic, business, and cultural life for the western part of the Czech Republic. The University of West Bohemia in Pilsen comprises Faculties of Engineering, Law, Applied Science and others.
Since the second half of the 1990s the city has experienced high growth in foreign investment.
Pilsen produces approximately two-thirds of the Pilsen Region GDP, even though it contains only 29.8% of its population. Based on these figures, the city of Pilsen has a total GDP of approximately $7.2 billion, and a per-capita GDP of $44,000, making it one of the most prosperous cities in the Czech Republic.
The Skoda company, established in Pilsen in 1859, has been an important part of the Austro-Hungarian, Czechoslovak and Czech engineering. The company’s production had been directed to the needs of the Eastern Bloc, and after the Velvet Revolution, it consequently ran into selling problems and debts. After huge restructuring process it has just two principal subsidiaries: Skoda Transportation (locomotives, tube-trains or trams, since sold to Portland, Tacoma, and Sardinia) and Skoda Power (turbines).
Many foreign companies now own manufacturing bases in Pilsen including Daikin and Panasonic. There has been much discussion of redeveloping those large areas of the Skoda plant which the company no longer uses.

Tourism
The most prominent sights of Pilsen are the Gothic St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral, founded in the late 13th century, the tower of which (102.26 m / 335 ft) is the highest in the Czech Republic, the Renaissance Town Hall, and the third largest synagogue in the world (after those of Jerusalem and Budapest). There is also an historic underground tunnel/cellar network open to the public for tours, up to three levels deep running under parts of the Old Town.
Pilsen is also well-known for the Pilsner Urquell (since 1842) and Gambrinus (since 1869) breweries. The pilsener style of beer, based on Pilsner Urquell, was developed in Pilsen in the 19th century.

Geography and climate
The Bohemian Forest comprises heavily forested mountains with average heights of 800-1400 metres. The highest peak is Großer Arber (1456 m) on the Bavarian side; the highest peak on the Bohemian side is Plechy (Plöckenstein) (1378 m). The range is one of the oldest in Europe, and its mountains are eroded into round forms with few rocky parts. Typical for the Bohemian Forest are plateaux at about 1000-1200 m with relatively harsh climates and many peat bogs. Jezerni slat (literally: lake moor) holds the record for the lowest average and absolute temperature in Bohemia, with a 2 °C annual average and a record low of -4 °C in 1987.

Water

The Bohemian Forest is the dividing range between the watersheds of the Black Sea and the North Sea, where water collected by the Vltava, Otava and Uhlava rivers flows. These rivers all spring from the Bohemian Forest. Owing to heavy precipitation (mostly snow), the peat bogs and the Lipno water dam, the Sumava region is an important water reservoir for Central Europe. More important for their aesthetic value than for holding water are several lakes of glacial origin.
Nature

As a border region, the Bohemian Forest has had a complicated history. In the 20th century it was part of the Iron Curtain, and large areas were stripped of human settlement. Even before that, settlement was sparse and for centuries forests dominated over human dwellings and pathways. These unique circumstances led to the preservation of unspoilt nature and forest ecosystems relatively unaffected by human activity. On the other hand, many habitats dependent on farming activity are slowly turning into forrest.
In the Czech Republic, the most valuable area is protected in the Sumava National Park and Protected Landscape and the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Part of the German section is protected as the Bavarian Forest National Park. The Bohemian Forest is a popular holiday destination because it is excellent hiking country. Most interesting natural and cultural sights are connected with more than 500 km of summer marked trails and many bike trails. However, park administration is not always successful in its task, and many believe the rapid growth of tourist accommodation and services is destroying the former calm of the Sumava region. Sumava National Park is also suffering various problems connected with bark beetles and there is heated debate about how to deal with it.

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• Bohemia Forest

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The Gothic fortress was changed during the Renaissance era and then in the 19th century within the “Tudor Gothic Passion” period. The French family of Buqouy, the last owners of the castle, transformed it into a museum opened to the public, one of the first museums in the Bohemian land. The main palace with architectural features of several historic styles shelters a unique collection of Baroque furniture and pictures as well as a wonderful Renaissance Hall with a famous “musical niche” and original wall decorations. The armoury contains valuable weapons, armours and heraldry. The picture gallery is full of remarkable pictures dating back even to Renaissance era. The Rozmberk heritage has been guarded for hundreds of years by kind Perchta of Rozmberk, the White Lady.
History

The Rozmberk castle was founded in the first half of the 13th century by a member of the powerful family of the Vitkovci (or in Latin-Germ: Witigonen), Vok z Prcice who later called himself after this castle Vok von Rosenberg. Very soon a tributary town grew in the barbican. The castle became the administrative and economic centre of the estates, a part of which Vok von Rosenberg gave to the newly established Cistercian monastery in Vyssi Brod. In 1302 when the cadet Krumlov branch of the Vitkovci died out, Vok’s offspring inherited Cesky Krumlov and they settled there permanently.
In 1420 Oldrich II of Rozmberk (1403 - 1462) was forced to pawn the castle to the Lords of Walsee from Austria to get money to finance the army against the Hussites. Oldrich was father to Perchta the White Lady. The Rozmberk castle was later paid off but in 1465 it was pawned again to the Lobkovic family. The castle was also in this case paid off.
In 1600 Petr Vok von Rosenberg passed the castle with estates over to his nephew Johann Zrinski of Seryn (1565 - 1612) son to Nikola Subic Zrinski. Zrinski rebuilt the castle in Renaisance style. When he died in 1612 the estates were inherited by the Svamberks, relatives of the Rozmberks. But they lost the castle very soon because all their estates were confiscated after the Battle of White Mountain and were given to the commander of the Imperial army, Karel Bonaventura Buquoy. The family, whose main residence was in Nove Hrady, kept the castle until 1945, when it was nationalised after the end of World War II.
The castle was opened to the public in the middle of the 19th century as one of the first museums in Bohemia. The tradition of the Rozmberks is represented by the Renaissance graffito decoration of the outside facades with beautiful painted decorations of the interiors (especially the famous Music niche in the so-called Knight’s hall). The tradition of the counts of Buquoy celebrates the history of the family which owned the castle until 1945. Neither the style nor the furniture of the castle have been changed since its reconstruction in the Romantic style was completed. The interiors, mostly renovated in the Neo-Gothic style, are furnished with valuable pieces of furniture, some of which were made especially with special wood carving for the use of the museum. The castle picture gallery contents a few valuable Czech and European pictures from artists of the Late Renaissance and Baroque eras, such as Bartolomeo Spranger, Karel Skreta, Jan Kupecky, and Norbert Grund. The armoury has a unique collection of stabbing and cutting weapons, arms, and relics of war.
Miscellaneous
The mysterious picture of Perchta, the White Lady of Rozmberk, is one of the most famous benign ghosts in Bohemia. She has supposedly appeared several times during the centuries since her death. A local tradition is if you understand what is written on the picture in secret signs you can release her and find a silver treasure.
The bronze elephant sculpture in the courtyard is a copy made in 2003. The original elephant from 1916 was stolen by Nazis and was lost for 50 years standing here in the yard. The owners found it and it was given back to them to make amends for the Holocaust. Now the elephant is back home in Switzerland and the precious copy is here to bring happiness to those who gently touch it.
The message “Loves disappear, colours fade” carved on a wall in the Knight’s Hall dates to a Spanish of the 17th century.

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• Rozmberk Castle

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• Zvikov Castle

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• Moravian Karst

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• Macocha Gorge

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• Konopiste

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History

The castle was founded in 1348 by the Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV who personally supervised the construction works and the decoration of interiors. The construction was finished nearly twenty years later when the “heart” of the treasury – the Chapel of the Holy Cross situated in the Great tower – was consecrated in 1365. With the outbreak of the Hussite Wars, the Czech coronation jewels were moved to the castle and were kept there for almost two centuries, with some short-time breaks.
The castle underwent several reconstructions: in late Gothic style after 1480, in Renaissance style in the last quarter of the 16th century and finally a neo-Gothic reconstruction between 1887 and 1899 carried out by Josef Mocker that gave the castle the present look.

Description

Individual buildings of the castle are situated at different height levels expressing their importance. Dominating on the hilltop is the 60m high and separately fortified Great tower built upon massive walls (4-6 m of thickness) that houses the Chapel of the Holy Cross. From there one can step down to the Marian tower, the five-storeyed Imperial palace and come to the Well tower and Burgrave’s palace located at the lowest level.

Tourist attractions

Entirely unique is the original decoration of wall paintings dating back to the 14th century, the collection of 129 panel paintings by Master Theodoric in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, the largest portrait gallery of Czech rulers in the country, the exhibited replica of St. Wenceslas crown - the coronation crown of the Czech Kings as well as the unique castle well.

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