Podbořany

Podbořany (German: Podersam) is a town in Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic, with about 6,300 inhabitants. It lies mostly in the Most Basin on the stream Dolánecký potok, about 31 kilometres southwest of Louny and 38 kilometres east of Karlovy Vary, and a small western part of its territory reaches into the Doupov Mountains and includes the highest point at 460 metres. The first written mention is in a 1362 deed of the monastery in Postoloprty; the Lords of Gutštejn made it a market town, and as property of the Schlick family it received town rights in 1575. After the Thirty Years' War Germans became the majority, and they were expelled in 1945 to 1946 and partly replaced by Czechs from Volhynia. Kaolin mining and porcelain production gave way to hop growing, for which the town is now one of the centres. Its main landmark is the late Baroque Church of Saints Peter and Paul, built in 1781.