Slavonice Tourist Attractions

The town of Slavonice, near the Moravian and Austrian borders, dates to the 13th Century. The primary attraction in Slavonice is the architecture. Renaissance buildings can be found throughout the town, but particularly around the squares of namesti Miru and Horni namesti. Many of the buildings display sgraffito decoration. Sgraffito is a technique of the Renaissance era, which involves scraping off the outer plaster to expose the black mortar below, forming an image or design. Slavonice is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Renaissance architecture.The impressive architecture stems from the town's most prosperous period when Slavonice was on the main trading route from Prague to Vienna. Unfortunately, the Thirty Years War in the 17th Century saw the town deteriorate and its importance waned.The town's original name was Zlabings since the town was founded by Germans and predominately inhabited by Germans. However, following the Second World War the Czechs drove out the Germans and renamed it Slavonice. After the departure of the German residents, the region, which had only a limited population to begin with, became a largely uninhabited area and gained a reputation for being wild and untamed. This gradually changed as more people returned to the area.