Slavonice is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, about a kilometer from the Austrian border with about 2,700 inhabitants. It was originally a medieval town, and has a traditional medieval city center with Sgraffito covered buildings dating from the 14th to 16th centuries. Being so close to the Austrian border, Slavonice was impacted by the creation of the Iron Curtain during the period of Communism. The nearby hamlet of MaøíŽ was completely depopulated during the period of Communism in an effort to prevent people from living anywhere near the border with non-Communist Austria. After the Velvet Revolution and the fall of Communism, MaøíŽ was recolonized by ceramics artists, and Slavonice has once again become a popular destination for Czech tourists and artists. A lot of small galleries were established as well as a result of the work of artists and workshops at Slavonice as by hotels or small shops.

Slavonice lies in the Region of South Bohemia which is situated on the border of Bohemia, Moravia and Austria on the eastern edge of the Bohemian Canada natural park, 519 metres above sea level. During the communist era it was included in the frontier-defence as it lay directly within the iron curtain area – the Austrian border is about 1 km away. This deserted stretch of land used to be part of the 4,000-mile network of barbed-wire fences, walls, and minefields peppered with motion sensors, guard towers, and bunkers. The no man's land between the curtain and the border was a heavily patrolled "death strip" 30 to 4,000 yards wide that slashed Europe in two. In parts of Czechoslovakia the border strip became hundreds of meters wide, and an area of increasing restrictions was defined as the border was approached. Only people with the appropriate government permissions were allowed to get close to the border.

The creation of these highly militarized no-man's lands led to de facto nature reserves and created a wildlife corridor across Europe; this helped the spread of several species to new territories. Since the fall of the iron curtain several initiatives are pursuing the creation of a European Green Belt nature preserve compound.

Population
The population in Slavonice itself is an interesting mixture, as the whole area was depopulated during the communist era - 2 decades ago the city was still nearly empty. Then artists from Prague discovered the area, bought houses and started to renovate them. Meanwhile the city population is a wild mixture of old inhabitants (brought there by the communists after 1948), various artists from Prague and other big cities in Czech Republic, international artists as well as remigrated emigrants of the former Charta 77.

Architecture
Slavonice itself is a heritage protected town which has applied for the UNESCO world heritage certificate with an untouched renaissance town center and a comprehensive collection of Gothic and Renaissance houses. Another treasure is a medieval system of underground passages that once served to drain basements and protect the residents in the event of danger. Slavonice boasts the second oldest Gothic wooden room (dating from 1464) to be found in the Czech Republic. The town's two squares, lined by houses
featuring gables graced with Sgraffiti, biblical figures and paintings depicting scenes from everyday life, reflect Slavonice's heyday in the Renaissance period.