Vysoké Mýto

Vysoké Mýto is a town of about 13,000 people in the Ústí nad Orlicí District of the Pardubice Region in the Czech Republic, standing on the Loučná River in the Svitavy Uplands, roughly 27 kilometres southeast of Pardubice. It was founded shortly before 1265 by King Ottokar II as one of the trading centres on the route from Bohemia to Moravia, and German settlers first populated it. Its name means high toll and distinguishes it from the older roadside settlement of Staré Mýto, the old toll. In the Middle Ages it served as a dowry town administered by Bohemian queens, and its regular square and street network survive today as one of the largest town squares in the country. Its well preserved historic centre is an urban monument zone, with the Church of Saint Lawrence as its main landmark and the Regional Museum, founded in 1871 and the oldest town museum in the country. Modern industry includes the Iveco Bus factory.