Facts About Pilsen
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The city is known worldwide for Pilsner beer, created by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll in the city in 1842.
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Pilsen is the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 175,000 inhabitants.
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The city is the transportation hub and the economic and cultural centre of western Bohemia.
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Plzeň is divided into ten boroughs, which are further divided into 25 administrative parts
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Plzeň was a European Capital Of Culture in 2015, along with Mons in Belgium.
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Plzeň was first mentioned as a castle in 976, as the scene of a battle between Duke Boleslaus II the Pious of Bohemia and Emperor Otto II.
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The average elevation of Pilsen is 310 m
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Pilsen became a town in 1295 when King Wenceslaus II granted Plzeň its civic charter as a “Royal City” and established a new town site.
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Plzeň is twinned with Birmingham, United States; Liège, Belgium; Limoges, France; Regensburg, Germany; Takasaki, Japan; Winterthur, Switzerland & Žilina, Slovakia.
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The Škoda company, established in Plzeň in 1859, has been an important element of Austro-Hungarian, Czechoslovak and Czech engineering, and one of the biggest European arms factories.
