Prerov

Prerov is a statutory city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic, on the Becva River in the fertile Hana region about 19 kilometers southeast of Olomouc. First documented in 1141 in a bishop's deed as part of the Premyslid state's castle system, it was granted royal town status by King Ottokar II in 1256 and became a center of culture and education in the sixteenth century through the Unity of the Brethren community, achieving statutory city status on 1 July 2006. Its population peaked at 51,300 in 1991 and had declined to about 40,492 by 2026, and the nearby Predmosti-Skalka site is one of the country's most important archaeological locations, with Paleolithic mammoth hunter camps dated to 27,000 to 26,000 years ago. Prerov is a major railway junction and home to the optics manufacturer Meopta and the Zubr Brewery, established in 1872.