Uherské Hradiště

Uherské Hradiště is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic, on the left bank of the Morava River about 23 kilometres southwest of Zlín. A Slavic fortified settlement stood on islands in the river from the early ninth century, but it vanished with the fall of Great Moravia; the present town was founded in 1257 by King Ottokar II to protect the nearby monastery at Velehrad, and its current name was first used in 1587. The Jesuits worked here from 1644 to 1773 and left a college and church that shape the historic centre, now a protected urban monument zone. The town has about 25,000 inhabitants and forms an urban agglomeration with neighbouring Staré Město and Kunovice of over 37,000. It is the centre of the cultural region of Moravian Slovakia, hosts the Moravian Slovakia Museum, and holds the annual Summer Film School festival.