Třeboň

Třeboň lies in southern Bohemia amid a landscape shaped by fishponds and waterways. In 1366 the Rožmberk family brought the local estate under its control, and the following year founded an Augustinian monastery in the town. Fishponds formed an important part of the estate economy. In the sixteenth century specialist builders extended the system with embankments and channels; the Golden Canal supplied water to many ponds. Jakub Krčín oversaw the construction of the great Rožmberk pond between 1584 and 1590, while the New River diverted water to protect it from floods. The town flourished under the last Rožmberks, Vilém and his brother Petr Vok. In 1602 Petr Vok moved his court to Třeboň after selling Český Krumlov to address the family's debts. The ponds and their waterworks joined the town's noble administration to the labor and technical skill of the surrounding countryside.