Plzen ( Pilsen ) City (original) (raw)

Plzen (Pilsen), the capital of West Bohemia, was founded by the Czech King Wenceslas II. The eventful historyof the city can be seen during the sightseeing of many interesting buildings. The historical city centre, is dominated by the slim tower of the Gothic St. Bartholomew Cathedral. With its height of 102,26 m (335 feet), this tower is the highest church spire in Bohemia.
The whole range of important buildings is an evidence for the era of great boom in the city on the turn of last two centuries.
Today's Plzen counts 165 000 inhabitants and is a significant cultural,business and industrial centre, famous mostly due to the products of Plzen's breweryand the heavy machinery factories Skoda.
In the last years the city has been taking taking step by step a new, more attractive face and wishes to be an appeal "entry gate" on the passage from West Europe.