The town was founded in the 13th century at the border of southern Bohemia and southern Moravia. The area is sometimes called Czech Canada due to its rough climate. In the mid-15th and the 16th centuries, when a post station was established here on the route between Prague and Vienna, the town experienced its greatest economic and architectural growth.
Slavonice is known for its burghers' houses with rich Renaissance gables, often decorated with figurative sgraffito and featuring special vaulted entrance halls (the so-called mázhaus.). The Gothic Church of the Assumption of Our Lady and two gates create the silhouette of the town.
The 19th century brought about economic decline of the town following a change in trade routes . As a result, the town was spared modern development and numerous outstanding sights from the Late Gothic period as well as Renaissance have been preserved to this day. The town boasts a rich cultural life, both as a result of the activities of its own Renaissance Society, and as a result of Czech-Austrian cultural collaboration.