Historic Centre of Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov is a South Bohemian town in a tight bend of the Vltava, at the point where an old east-west route crossed the river. The earliest record, a document of 1253, mentions a castle here belonging to a member of the Vítkovci family, who ruled southern Bohemia. The town grew in two parts: Latrán below the castle, and a town laid out around a square in the river's meander on the opposite bank.

When this line of the Vítkovci died out in 1302, King Wenceslaus II gave the estate to the Rosenberg family, who later made it their main seat. In 1555 William of Rosenberg joined Latrán and the old town, until then separate, into one town, and in the late 16th century he had the castle rebuilt in Renaissance style. His brother Peter Vok sold Krumlov to Emperor Rudolf II in 1602, and after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 Emperor Ferdinand II granted it to the Eggenberg family. In the 18th century it passed to the Schwarzenbergs, who held it until 1947.

In 1910 about 85% of the inhabitants were Germans; after the Second World War the German population was expelled. The town decayed under Communist rule, but it was made a historic reserve in 1963 and a large restoration programme began in 1970. The reserve covers 46 ha and 315 buildings. Český Krumlov was inscribed in 1992 and was damaged in the European floods of 2002.