Hustopeče

Hustopeče is a town of about 6,400 inhabitants in the Břeclav District of the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, lying on the border between the Ždánice Forest and the Lower Morava Valley, roughly 28 kilometres south of Brno. It is known for fruit and wine growing and for almond cultivation, which is unique in Central Europe, and it lies in the warmest part of the country. The first written mention is from 1247, German colonists brought viticulture in the thirteenth century, and the German name of the town is Auspitz. Emperor Maximilian II promoted it to a town in 1572. In 1531 Anabaptists led by Jakob Hutter founded a Hutterite community here, making it a centre of Moravian Anabaptism. The Church of Saints Wenceslaus and Agnes of Bohemia is the main landmark, the D2 motorway from Brno to the Slovak border runs through the town, and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk lived here as a boy.