Klobouky u Brna is seated in a picturesque valley with forests around and vineyards climbing up the southwestern fingers of the hilly Ždánický Les at the altitude of 200-300 m. Settlements have a millenniums old history in this region, archaeological finds claim. Klobouky was first mentioned in writing in l3th-century records when the settlement was granted to Lev of Klobouky, a prominent official of the Castle of Brno, for his services by King Otakar II. After his death, Klobouky went to the Premonstratensian Monastery of Zábrdovice which held the title the next 550 years. The municipality evolved into an important centre of the monasterial domain, profiting from the vicinity of the important road between Hungary and Moravia. Receiving the market privilege from King Václav II in 1298, Klobouky became a township. In 1559 King Ferdinand I allowed it to hold a second annual market and confirmed the weekly market privilege. Ambrož of Telč, the Abbot of Zábrdovice, had a Renaissance mansion built for the Convent at Klobouky in 1589 which was converted into a château in the l8th century. The last private owners sold the château to the municipality in 1932 which uses it as town hall, also harbouring a museum founded by private enthusiasts in 1906. The Town Museum is in fact a permanent ethnographic exhibition with extensive archaeological stuff. The collections of folklore embroidery, national costumes, ceramics and glass paintings are highly valued among similar collections in Bohemia for their entirety. The town's ol dest building is the catholic parish. The right of patronage over Klobouky was confirmed to the Monastery of Zábrdovice around 1300, chronicles say. The old medieval church was replaced by the catholic St Lawrence's Parochial Church built on the hill above the town in 1655. It is a one-ship building with rectangular presbytery and a barrel vault and with a baroque illusionist fresco on the ceiling. Another dominant is the Evangelical Church built by the architect Antonín Strnad in 1883. Here we can see a state-of-theart design of that time. The vault is suspended from a steel roof truss and the galleries are supported by very slim steel posts. The John-of-Pomuk Statue has been filling the free space at the château since the middle of the l8th century. The country around Klobouky suffers from the notorious lack of water which made people seek for alternative resources of energy, in this case, the wind. Old photographs could catch the last three wind mills on the southern slopes just above the town in 1896. Author Vilém Mrštík once said: "It is those fans what identifies Klobouky for me. Without them, as if there was no Klobouky at all ... '. Dilapidating, they survived well into our century and the last one was burnt down in World War II. Its place remained empty until the early 1980s when a local initiative gathered to build up a replica. It took several years of effort until the opening ceremony could be organised in 1985. The historic replica now attracts crowds of visitors. The mill is all made of wood and sits on columns. With 5x5 m on the plan, the maximum height reaches some 16 m, the roofing is made of shingles. It proudly crowns a 295 m high hill near the town. Klobouky cherishes the tradition of regular wakes which take place on St Wenceslas's day each 28th of September. Dressed in beautiful national costumes, the chief millers go from house to house through the town, dancing to music and inviting everybody to the feast, then singing and dancing around the may-pole and throwing a two-day party. Then, a fortnight later, there is another part of the wake with the same costume parade again. The old tradition of annual fairs is being revived in the last few years. There used to be 2 annual fairs plus weekly markets 700 years ago and there are two now-on May Day and on the St Wenceslas's day. In 1990, a mineral spring was found close to the town, 3,500 m deep and 93 °C warm. The town now intends to establish a small recreational resort around the spring and has already prepared a study. Klobouky was recognized as town in 1964.

A glass painting of Finding of the Holy Genevieve, now part of the collections of the Town Museum at Klobouky u Brna

St Barbara Chapel

Wind mill

The château