Hustopeče

Hustopeče (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɦustopɛtʃɛ]; German: Auspitz) is a town in southern Moravia of the Czech Republic with 5,956 inhabitants. Hustopeče lies in the Břeclav District and is 25 km northwest of Břeclav. Hustopeče was first mentioned in 1303. By the end of the 19th century, it was on the byline from Šakvice north to the Vienna-Bruno-Prague line. Until the end of the Second World War, most of its inhabitants were ethnic Germans. The town skyline was dominated by the Gothic St. Wenceslaus Church. Its 74 m high steeple collapsed in 1961, which damaged the church's structure greatly, and in 1962 the Czechoslovak government ordered it to be torn down. A new futuristic church was built on the site of the old one between 1990 and...