Pilsen is the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic. It is located in western Bohemia. It is an important industrial, commercial, cultural, and administrative center. The city was founded on the confluence of four rivers—Uhlava, Uslava, Radbuza, and Mze—by the Czech king Wenceslas II in 1295. Situated at the crossroads of two important trade routes and close to Prague,
Pilsen experienced immediate and rapid growth. Skupa’s Plzen is a center of international cultural events and festivals that include the Smetana Days, the Theatre Festival, the International Drawing Biennial, Skupa’s Plzen, and the International Big-Band Festival. The Pilsen Cultural Summer offers various open-air-stage concerts in the city center. Given the numerous kinds of wood and rivers that surround Pilsen, recreational possibilities for the citizens and visitors are numerous. Short-day trips to outlying historic sites can also be easily made from Pilsen.