The Great Moravian fortified settlement near Mikulčice is the best preserved item of archaeological evidence documenting the existence of the West-Slavonic state. The Mikulčice fortified site lies near the town of Hodonín, southeast of the village of Mikulčice, along the present-day border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The older Mikulčice settlement was radically rebuilt in the 9th century as a part of the Great Moravian residential agglomeration. The fortified core of the agglomeration covered an area of about 10 hectares and consisted of an acropolis and a preurbium. Over the course of the 9th century, stone churches were founded inside the acropolis on its elevated northern end, and large burial grounds were established around the churches. An extensive range of systematic archaeological research was conducted between 1954 and 1990 and is currently being elaborated with partial surveys that provide updated information about this rare locality.