Plzen
The Western Czech centre Plzen is the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic (172 thousand inhabitants). In 1295, at the place of today’s Old Plzen King Vaclav II founded New Plzen not far from the Premysl settlement which dates back to 976.
The city, situated at the confluence of four rivers, had the largest area in Central Europe at that time(139 х 193 m) and quickly became the second largest city after Prague. Double walls and a water moat transformed Medieval Plzen into an inaccessible fortress, which withstood many Hussite sieges during 20s and 30s in the 15th century. In 1468 the first Czech printed book “Trojan Chronicles” was published here.
In the 19th century the fortress walls were demolished to enable the fast-growing industrial city to expand. In the middle of the 19th century, the Plzen brewery and Emil Skoda metallurgical plant were founded and very quickly became famous.
The Saint Bartholomew church towers over the historic city centre conservation area with several dozen secular and ecclesiastical cultural attractions.
Due to the production of popular beer “Prazdroj“ Plzen preserved its world significance as a beer city. The oldest exhibition dedicated to the national beverage is displayed at the Museum of Brewery. Plzen is an important cultural centre, and a lot of international festivals and exhibitions are held in the city.