Znojmo city

Znojmo lies on the left bank of the Thaya river , 55 km to the south-west of Brno city. It is the second largest city in the South Moravian Region and a historical centre of the Old Southwest Moravia . It has 36,000 inhabitants and is one of the oldest cities in the Czech Republic – its history began in the time of Samo’s Empire (5th century). The town was raised to royal status in the year 1226 by king Přemysl Otakar I. Znojmo was favoured too by another Czech ruler, John of Luxembourg, whose son Charles IV also confirmed the privileges bestowed on the Znojmo winemakers by his father, according to which they were allowed to sell their wine in all lands and towns pertaining to the Czech crown other than Prague. Due to the large number of historic buildings, it is a national heritage conservation area nowadays. The most important objects are castle rotunda of St. Catherine, the town hall tower from the 15th century (the landmarks of the city) and catacombs of Znojmo (the labyrinth of tunnels stretches through the entire town to a length of 30 km).There is also a large number of religious buildings in Znojmo. The churches of St. Nicholas and St. Michael are among the most imporatant.

The annual Historical Vintage of Znojmo is one of the biggest events in the town since 1966. A rich program of Znojmo ‘s historic vintage attracts tens of thousands of visitors from all over the country, each year in September. The tourists and the locals are tempted not only by series of accompanying events (theatrical performances and concerts of famous personalities) , but mainly by traditional historical part of vintage. It offers tournaments of knights , historic marketplace with craft & military demonstrations and a parade through the town, which remains a dominant feature of the celebrations.

Wikipedia page about Znojmo