Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov, known in German as Krumau or Böhmisch Krumau, is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic with about 13,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Vltava River in the Bohemian Forest foothills and is one of the most visited tourist centres in the country. The historic centre, which includes the Český Krumlov Castle complex, is protected as an urban monument reservation and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992 because of its well-preserved Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. The castle was founded shortly before 1250 by a local branch of the noble Vítkovci family. The town had 8,662 inhabitants in 1910, of whom 85 percent were Germans, and its longtime German majority population was later expelled and the town returned to Czechoslovakia.