Znojmo : Czech Republic

Znojmo (German: Znaim) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, near the border with Lower Austria.
The city is situated on a rock outcropping on the steep left bank of the Dyje river, and retains a number of examples of its medieval architecture. The Gothic Church of St. Nicholas and the city hall’s Gothic tower are the most recognizable landmarks. The Church of St. Nicholas was built in 1348 by the emperor Charles IV, and the city hall, with its 75-m (250-ft) tower, dates from about 1446. There is also an ancient castle atop a nearby hilltop.
The present town of Znojmo was founded in 1226 by King Ottokar I on the site of the ancient capital of the tributary margraves of Moravia, which had been destroyed in 1145. Znojmo is best known to history for the armistice concluded here in 1809 after the Battle of Wagram between Napoleon and the archduke Charles.

Zliv : Czech Republic

Zliv is a town north west of Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic, in South Bohemian Region. Population: 3,656 (2004).

Zlín : Czech Republic

Zlín (during 1948-90 named Gottwaldov) is a city in Zlínský kraj (region), in southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic, on the Drevnice River, at 49.23° N, 17.65° E.
The first written record of Zlín dates from 1332. The town grew rapidly after Tomáš Baťa founded a shoe factory there in 1894, which came to supply the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I. Bata designed the town as he saw fit until his death in 1932.
His son Thomas was forced to leave by the Nazis in 1938 and again after the war when the company was nationalized (he left for Canada where he founded another model community, named Batawa). Zlín was merged in 1948 with several surrounding communities to form Gottwaldov, named after the first communist president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald. In 1990 the whole city was renamed Zlín.

Zbraslav : Czech Republic

Zbraslav is a town on the river Vltava, Bohemia, Czech Republic, having 1.193 inhabitants (2002) and administratively forming the southernmost part of Prague.
Zbraslav was founded in 1118. In 13th century, the Bohemian king Wenceslas II founded here a cloister of monks of the Cistercian Order. The Zbraslav cloister was called Aula regia and was ordered to be the burial place of Bohemian kings.
In 1935, V. F. Bulgakov founded here an important Russian Museum with collections dedicated to Russian emigrants, but the museum was closed and confiscated by the communists before 1948.. (more…)

Žatec : Czech Republic

Žatec (German: Saaz) is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Usti nad Labem Region of Bohemia. Population: 21,000.
It lies on the Ohre, which is spanned here by a suspension bridge, 210 ft. long, which is the oldest of its kind in Bohemia, having been constructed in 1826. It possesses several ancient churches, of which one is said to date from 1206, and a town hall built in 1559. Zatec is the centre of the extensive hop trade with over 700 years long tradition of growing and producing of this plant.
A coat-of-arms was given to the inhabitants by Vladislav II for their courage during the storming of Milan, and the place is mentioned as a royal town under Ottokar II. From the outbreak of the Hussite Wars to the Thirty Years’ War Zatec was Hussite or Protestant, but after the Battle of White Mountain (1620) the greater part of the Czech inhabitants left the town, which became German and Roman Catholic.