Traditional commercial and cultural relations with neighbouring Austria, Germany and other West European countries were re-established. Besides already existing international contracts also partnerships with Austrian Linz, Bavarian Passau and further with Almero in Netherlands, Lorient in France and Nitra in Slovakia were concluded. In addition, opening the border significantly strengthened tourism. An external sign of post-revolutionary changes is, for instance, the process of reintroducing some historically deep-rooted street names, which began in 1991, or reunveiling monuments of the bishop J.V. Jirsík and the entrepreneur Vojtěch Lanna in 1993. On the one hand, restitution and privatization process resulted in the development of commercial network and an extensive renovation of buildings, on the other hand, it entailed damage to many historical monuments. The built-up area expanded by building both new housing estates in the area of Čtyři Dvory and new colonies of family houses on the land so far used for agricultural purposes near České Vrbné, Suché Vrbné, Mladé and Nemanice. Besides, further housing zones were projected in Rožnov, near Kněžské Dvory, around Hus colony and in other places. In the suburbs of České Budějovice new commercial centers and supermarkets appeared in the mid-90s that made most town inhabitants accept modern style of shopping. The tradition of the annually organized exhibition Bread Basket has been maintained; apart from that, the exhibition centre offers some other regular events (Hobby, Beer Festival etc.). In the 90s several architectonically interesting buildings appeared in the town: administration building of Jihočeská energetika (South Bohemian Energy Supplier) in the Lanna Street (1993), Česká pojišťovna (Czech Insurance Company) in the Prague Street (1995) or commercial-economic centre of Budweiser Budvar (1996). The town invested into a non-traditional construction of the new Long Bridge over the Vltava river, which was opened on the occasion of the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1998. Especially the economic sphere underwent extensive changes. Most industrial enterprises, providing jobs for approximately one third of the town inhabitants, transformed into joint stock or other companies, some of which are operating foreign capital.