Znojmo

Znojmo rises above the Dyje in southern Moravia, near the Austrian frontier. A fortified Přemyslid seat stood here in the eleventh century, and a new castle became the centre of administration around 1100. Duke Conrad II founded the Premonstratensian monastery of Louka in 1190. King Ottokar I established and fortified the royal town before 1226, making it one of the earliest in Moravia.

Znojmo withstood attack during the Hussite Wars and prospered in the following centuries. Its inhabitants dug networks of underground passages beneath their houses as part of the town's defences. During the Thirty Years' War, however, Znojmo was repeatedly captured and plundered, and recovery took more than a century. In 1809 Napoleon and Archduke Charles concluded the armistice of Znaim here after fighting near the town and the decisive Battle of Wagram.