KLATTAU (Latin, Clatovia ; Bohemian, Klatovy), chief town of a district of the same name in Bohemia, lies about 70 miles south-west of Prague, and on the railway between Pilsen and Eisenstein, in 49° 23' N. lat., 13° 22' E. long. Klattau has six churches, an upper gymnasium, two hospitals, a large steam brewery, and an old-fashioned town-hall dating from the 16th century, and containing in its tower a bell weighing over 5 tons. Population 8067.

Klattau was an ancient Bohemian fortress, and afterwards became a royal free town. In 1421 it was desolated by the Bohemian leader Ziska. Having refused to assist the emperor Ferdinand I., it was in 1546 deprived of many of its privileges. In 1620 it was taken by the emperor Maximilian. Until the early part of the 17th century it was a thriving place; but the depredations committed by the Swedes in 1641, 1645, and 1648, and the many conflagrations which from time to time ravaged it, so seriously affected the town that it has never recovered its former prosperity.