PISEK, a small town of Bohemia, 55 miles to the south of Prague, lies on the right bank of the Wottawa, which is here crossed by an interesting stone bridge of great antiquity. The town generally has a mediaeval air, heightened by the preservation of part of the old walls and bastions. The most prominent buildings are the church of the Nativity, the town-house, and the venerable chateau. The name of Pisek, which is the Czech for sand, is said to be derived from the gold-washing formerly carried on in the bed of the Wottawa. This source of profit, however, has been long extinct, and the inhabitants now support themselves by iron and brass founding, brewing, and the manufacture of shoes and Turkish fezes. The population in 1880 was 10,545.

Pisek was one of the chief centres of the Hussites, and it suffered very severely in the Thirty Years’ War, when Maximilian of Bavaria put almost all the inhabitants to the sword. It was also occupied by the French in 1741. In spite of these reverses Pisek is now a very wealthy community, possessing large and valuable tracts of woodland.