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Polabí (German: Elbeland) is the traditional and informal name for a lowlands region located mainly in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, just north from Prague. The name comes from Czech po Labi, meaning "along the Elbe". The same linguistic construction gave its name to the extinct Polabian Slavs in today's Germany.
The region, without clear boundaries, extends along the river Elbe (Czech: Labe), approximately between the towns of Pardubice and Mělník, where the Elbe flows together with Vltava. In wider sense, it stretches further westward to the lowland along the Ohře river. Its elevation ranges roughly between 150 and 300 metres above sea level.
Polabí is the most fertile part of Bohemia and the core area, from where the medieval state of the Czechs developed. It contains a number of historical, cultural and natural monuments, including many historical towns e.g. Stará Boleslav, Kutná Hora or Nymburk, open-air museums in Přerov nad Labem, Ostrá and Kouřim; a famous spa in Poděbrady, the home of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana in Jabkenice, a museum of butter in Máslovice, and a museum of writer Bohumil Hrabal in Kersko.
