Horažďovice

Horažďovice is a town in Klatovy District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic, with about 5,100 inhabitants. It lies in the valley of the Otava River on the border between the Blatná Uplands and the Bohemian Forest Foothills, roughly 30 kilometres east of Klatovy and 50 kilometres southeast of Plzeň. The name comes from the personal name Gorazd. The place is first mentioned in writing in 1251 as a market village on the trade route from Prague to Bavaria, and King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia promoted it to a town in 1292. The well preserved historic centre is protected as an urban monument zone, and the main landmark is Horažďovice Castle, which now houses the town museum. In the nineteenth century the estate owners introduced pearl oyster farming in the local waters, which continued until after the Second World War.