Krnov

Krnov stands at the meeting of the Opava and Opavice rivers, on the edge of Silesia. First mentioned in 1240, it acquired town status in the thirteenth century and was protected by fortifications. A Minorite monastery was founded in 1273. The town became the capital of its own duchy when the Duchy of Opava was divided in 1377, and its guilds and textile crafts prospered.

The Hohenzollern family acquired the duchy in 1523 and built a castle in Krnov. Their rule brought growth, but the Thirty Years' War ended this prosperity. Afterwards the Liechtenstein family took possession and promoted the return of Catholicism throughout the duchy. The town became a frontier settlement after the War of the Austrian Succession, and in 1779 a great fire destroyed almost all of it.