Litoměřice

Litoměřice is a town of roughly 23,000 inhabitants in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic, standing on the right bank of the Elbe at its confluence with the Ohře. It lies about 15 kilometres south of Ústí nad Labem and some 51 kilometres northwest of Prague; the northwestern half of the municipal territory belongs to the Central Bohemian Uplands and the southeastern half to the Lower Ohře Table at the edge of the Polabí lowlands. Settlement here is very old. Slavic occupation is evidenced from the 8th century, a Přemyslid fortress stood here in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Litomeřice Chapter founded in 1057 is the oldest written proof of the town, and King Ottokar I granted royal-town status in 1219. The town became a Catholic bishop's residence in 1655 and is still the seat of the Diocese of Litoměřice. Its historic centre, with Gothic houses around the large square Mírové náměstí, a Renaissance old town hall and Baroque churches, has been protected as an urban monument reservation since 1978. The area is known for viticulture and for the annual horticultural fair Zahrada Čech.