Klow

In the "Tintin" books, Klow is the capital of the fictional Balkan kingdom of Syldavia. The royal palace and the government is located hereof.

History

The city was founded in the 10th century by the invading Turks, and was then named Zilehorum. The Magyar nomads that lived there was forced to live in Zmyhlpathernian mountains, while the Turks themselves settled in the newly founded city located in the lush hills. In year 1127, the nomads with the tribal chief called Mr Hveghi in the lead defeated and drove away the Turkish conquerors outside the city Zileheroum, and took the name Muskar, meaning "the brave" and Zileheroum was renamed to Klow, meaning "freetown" from "kloho" ("freedom") and "ow" ("town"). In 1168, Muskar I died, and was followed by this son Muskar II. Muskar II, however, was weak, and the neighboring Bordurians took over the country.

Culture

Klow has a big variety of cultural styles. Mostly typical Yugoslavian, there is also many buildings of Austrian and Turkish descent, for example the old mosques. However, the Kropow castle's architecture and decoration is of Bohemian descend, but could be because of the fame of the Czech architecture.

Klow is told to be the Capital of Mineral Water, and they are famous for their Klowaswa (Cyrillic: Кловасва), their national mineral water, literally meaning "Klow Water" or "Water from Klow".

In contrast to ordinary Syldavians, who use the Cyrillic alphabet, the Royal Court in Klow uses the Latin alphabet.