Olomouc

According to the authors of the worldwide known “Lonely Planet” travel guide series, Olomouc, with its under 100 thousand population, outclasses the capital city of Prague in the ranking of most beautiful Czech cities. A convenient location at the crossing of trade routes, one of the oldest European universities (founded in 1573) as well as the status of the seat of Archdiocese used to attract great numbers of artists, scholars and craftsmen. The end of Olomouc's “golden era” came with the outbreak of the thirty year war and the loss of Moravian capital status in favour of Brno (1642). The new chapter in the city history was opened in the 19^th century along with intensive industrialization and extension of communication routes. At present, Olomouc is one of the most important nationally administrative, industrial, trade, services, academic and cultural centres. The large Old Town is second only to the center of Prague among historic complexes preserved in the Czech Republic. The buildings of the Old Town are mostly representative of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Holy Trinity Column in the Upper Market – the highest Baroque sculpture in Central Europe (32 meters tall) was in 2000 inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  Equally valuable is the 19^th century city centre giving Olomouc a metropolitan character and the Klašterni Hradisko and Svatý Kopeček districts with their Baroque monasteries. The number of tourists visiting the city annually is close to the number of its residents.