České Budějovice

České Budějovice (short form: Budějovice, German: Budweis [also used in English]) is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the largest city in the South Bohemian Region and is the political and commercial capital of the region and centre of catholic Diocese of České Budějovice. The town is not to be confused with Moravské Budějovice in Moravia.

1 History
2 Beer
3 Geography
4 Sights
5 Transport
6 Miscellaneous
7 External links

[edit] History

The town was founded by Hirzo, a knight of King Přemysl Otakar II of Bohemia, and was granted its charter as a city in 1265. Until the mass expulsion of 1945 Budweis had a significant German minority (ca 15,5 % in 1930).

[edit] Beer

České Budějovice has long been well known for the fine beer brewed here since the 13th century. For a time the town was the royal brewery for the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and beer from Budweis (the German name for České Budějovice), or "Budweiser Beer", attained fame. Beer brewing remains a major industry here.

The largest brewery is Pivovar Budějovický Budvar, which has legal rights to market its beer under the "Budweiser" brand name in much of Europe. The same product is also sold elsewhere under the names "Budvar" and "Czechvar" due to legal squabbles with Anheuser-Busch over the Budweiser brand. The American lager was originally brewed as an imitation of the famous Czech original but over time has developed its own identity and attained remarkable commercial success. Anheuser-Busch has made offers to buy out the Czech brewing company in order to secure global rights to the name "Budweiser", but the Czech government has refused all such offers, considering keeping the Budweiser name Czech to be a matter of national pride.

The second largest brewery, Pivovar Samson, also does a fair amount of export, mostly under the "Samson" and "Crystal" labels as well as "B. B. Bügerbräu", which has been in the US since last year.

[edit] Geography

The city is in the center of a valley of the Vltava River, where the Vltava meets the Malše river.

[edit] Sights

The old town preserves interesting Medieval and Baroque architecture around the large town square, including the old town hall with murals and bronze gargoyles, and the town tower "Černá věž" ("Black Tower"). In the new town the Belle Epoque Austro-Hungarian train station is notable. The most valuable historical building in České Budějovice is Dominican convent with gothic church Presentation of Virgin Mary on Piaristic square.

The ruins of the home castle of the Czech national hero Jan Žižka, Trocnov, are located some ten kilometres southeast from the town. A bit further away (cca 30km), the enchanting time of Český Krumlov is another compulsory stop for the visitor of South Bohemia. It was added in 1992 to UNESCO's World Heritage list.