Domažlice

Domažlice is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic, with about 11,000 inhabitants, set in hilly country near the border with Germany and about 44 kilometres southwest of Plzeň. A settlement is first mentioned in a deed of Duke Boleslaus II from 993, linked to the Bohemian-Bavarian border and the trade route to Regensburg, and King Ottokar II founded the fortified royal town in 1265. Border guards recruited from the Chods, free Slavic farmers, protected the frontier, and Domažlice is known as one of the centres of the historical Chodsko region. In 1431 Prokop the Great defeated crusaders in the Battle of Domažlice. The historic centre is well preserved and protected as an urban monument reservation, the Zubřina Stream flows through the town, and the railway lines from Plzeň and Klatovy end here. The football club TJ Jiskra Domažlice plays in the third tier of Czech football.