Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, with about 7,600 inhabitants. It lies on the border with Austria, mainly in the Mikulov Highlands and within the Pálava Protected Landscape Area, about 42 kilometres south of Brno. The German name of the town is Nikolsburg, and the name comes from the personal name Mikul, a short form of Mikuláš, the Czech form of Nicholas. The first trustworthy written mention dates from 1249, when the Přemyslid margrave Ottokar II granted the castle and surrounding area to Henry I of Liechtenstein, and the town received market rights in 1279. From the 16th to the 19th century Mikulov was the cultural centre of the Jewish community of Moravia, and its well preserved historic centre is protected as an urban monument reservation. The pilgrimage area of the hill Svatý kopeček with the Chapel of Saint Sebastian is a national cultural monument.