Brno
Encyclopedia
Brno (ˈbr̩no; ; ; ) by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic
, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region
where it forms a separate district Brno-City District
. The city lies at the confluence
of the Svitava
and Svratka rivers and has over 400 thousand residents, its greater metropolitan area
is regularly home to more that 800 thousand people while its larger urban zone had population about 730 thousand in 2004.
Brno is the capital of judicial authority
of the Czech republic because it is the seat of the Constitutional Court
, the Supreme Court
, the Supreme Administrative Court
, and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office. Beside that, the city is significant administrative centre. It is the seat of number of state authorities like Ombudsman
, Office for the Protection of Competition or the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority. Brno is also an important centre of higher education, with 33 faculties of 13 universities and about 89,000 students. There is also a studio of the Czech Television and the Czech Radio, in both cases by law. The city is also home to Brno Television, a small local television station.
Brno Exhibition Centre
ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe (23rd in the world), this huge complex first started functioning in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fair
s held in Brno, now it also ranks among one of the sights of the city. The city is also known for hosting big motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit
, this tradition was established in 1930 and the most prestigious races include the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix. Another notable cultural tradition includes an international fireworks competition Ignis Brunensis
, this event usually attracts one or two hundred thousand visitors every day it's being held.
The most important sights of the city include the castle and fortress Špilberk
and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul
on Petrov hill, these two formerly medieval buildings form the characteristic cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols. The other large and preserved castle in the city is Veveří Castle
near the Brno Dam Lake, this castle is a subject for a couple of legends like a number of other places in Brno. Another important monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat
which has been included in the UNESCO
list of World Heritage Sites. Brno is surrounded by a relatively pleasant nature, one of the especially attractive areas nearby might be the Moravian Karst
.
brnen, brno 'muddy, swampy.' Alternative explanations derive it from a Slavic
verb brniti (to armor or to fortify) or a Celtic language
spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples
and later Slavic peoples
(this theory would make it cognate
with other Celtic words for hill, such as the Welsh
word bryn). Throughout its history, Brno's locals also used to refer to the town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין in Yiddish
and Bruna in Latin.
The Asteroid 2889 Brno
was named after the city, as well as the Bren light machine gun (Brno + Enfield
), a famous gun of the World War II
.
known as Staré Zámky which was inhabited since the Neolithic Age to the early 11th century. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of non-ruling Prince from the House of Přemyslid, and Brno became one of the centres of Moravia
along with Olomouc
and Znojmo
.
In the 11th century there was founded a chapel on the Petrov hill, since then, the chapel has undergone many changes which after centuries resulted in the current Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul
. The Spilberk Castle
was founded in the 13th century, originally as the major royal castle in Moravia
. In the 1243 Brno received the large and small city privileges from the King, and thus it was recognized as a royal city. In 1324 Queen Elisabeth Richeza of Poland
(cz: Eliška Rejčka) founded the current Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady where is now her final resting place. In the 14th century, Brno became one of the centres for the Moravian regional assemblies, whose meetings alternated between Brno and Olomouc. These assemblies made political, legal, and financial decisions. Brno and Olomouc were also the seats of the Land Court and the Land Tables, thus they were the two most important cities in Moravia. From the mid of 14th century to the early 15th century the Spilberk Castle had served as the permanent seat of the Margraves of Moravia (Moravian rulers), one of them was elected the King of the Romans
.
In the 1641 Brno became the only capital of Moravia. During the 17th century the Spilberk Castle was rebuild into a huge baroque citadel
. In 1777 the Brno Bishopric was established. In 1839 the first train arrived to Brno from Vienna
, this event was the begging of the rail transport in the today's Czech Republic. In the years 1859-1864 the city fortification was almost completely removed. In 1869 a horsecar
service started to operate in Brno, it was the first tram service in the today's Czech Republic.
, Znojmo
, and Brno. In the late 12 century Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia, since then, until the mid 17 century, it wasn't clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. So the political power was "evenly" divided between Brno and Olomouc but Znojmo also played and an important role. The Moravian Diet (cz: zemský sněm), the Moravian Land Tables (cz: zemské desky), and the Moravian Supreme Court (cz: zemský soud) were all seated in both cities at once. Olomouc was the seat of the only bishopric in Moravia, later also of the only Moravian university, and it was a bigger than Brno, while Brno was the seat of Maravian Margraves (rulers of Moravia), and later its position closer to Vienna
became also important.
In 1641 the Holy Roman Emperor and Margrave of Moravia Ferdinand III
commanded permanent relocation of the diet, court, and the land tables from Olomouc to Brno. And in 1642 Olomouc surrendered to the Swedish army, while Brno was the only Moravian city which managed to defend itself. Since then, the only capital city of Moravia was Brno, until 1948 when communistic government finally abolished the Moravian autonomy. At the present day the Moravian Land Tables are stored in the Moravian Regional Archive, and ranks among the national cultural sights of the Czech republic.
At the beginning of the Communism Era in Czechoslovakia
, in 1948, Brno ceased to serve as the capital city of Moravia
. Since then Moravia is divided into a few administrative regions subdued to Prague
, and Brno is the seat of the Regional Authority of the South Moravian Region
, originally called the Brno Region. In 1968 Brno was recognized as a statutory city
.
of the Svitava
and Svratka rivers and there are also several brooks flowing through it including the Veverka, Ponávka, and Říčka. The Svratka River flows through the city for about 29 km (18.02 mi), the Svitava River cuts a 13 km (8.08 mi) path through the city. The length of Brno is 21.5 km (13.36 mi) measured from the east to the west and its overall area is 230 km² (88.8 sq mi). Inside of the city limits there is the Brno Dam Lake, several ponds, and other standing bodies of water, for example reservoir
s in the Marian Valley or the Žebětín Pond. Brno is surrounded by woody hills from three sides; a significant part of the area of the city is forest, about 6379 ha (15,762.84 acre), i.e. 28%. Due to its location between the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands
and the Southern Moravian lowlands, Brno has a moderate climate. Brno have a very high air quality ensured by a good natural circulation of air, no severely violent storms or similar natural disasters have ever been recorded in the city. The average temperature is 9.4 °C (49 °F), the average annual precipitation is about 505 mm (19.88 in), the avgerage number of precipitation days is 150, the average annual sunshine is 1,771 hours, and the prevailing wind direction is northwest. Its elevation above the sea level is varying from 190 m (623.36 ft) to 425 m (1,394.36 ft), and its highest point in the area is the Kopeček Hill. There are dozens of legally protected areas which are protected because of their ecological and/or natural values, like the Moravian Karst
, Stránská Skála, and others.
Brno is the former capital city of Moravia
and the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region
. The city has over 400 thousand residents. Its urban agglomeration has approximately 450 thousand residents. Its larger urban zone had a population of about 730 thousand in 2004 while its greater metropolitan area
is home to more than 800 thousand people,. The estimated population of the South Moravian Region is 1.2 million people. According to the Eurostat population estimate from the year 2004 Brno had 367,729 inhabitants, which ranks it among the 100 largest cities of the EU
. Brno is situated at the crossroads of ancient trade routes which have joined northern and southern European civilizations for centuries, and as a part of the Danube basin region. The city is historically connected with Vienna
which lies a mere 110 km (68.35 mi) to the south.
Since the 1990s Brno is experiencing a great cultural "rebirth", facades of historical monuments are being repaired and various exhibitions, shows, etc. are being established or extended. However the city still might have a bad reputation of "a dirty industrial town with nothing worthy of seeing".
In 2007 there was a summit of 15 presidents of the EU Member States held in Brno, in 1996 the Queen Elizabeth II visited the city, then in 2010, her son, Prince Charles, in 2009 the Pope Benedict XVI
, and others.
Despite its urban character Brno still preserves traditional Moravian folklore, including folk festivals with tradition Moravian national costumes (cz: kroje), Moravian wines, folk music and dances, and other things. Unlike smaller municipalities, in Brno the traditional folk festivals are held locally by certain city districts, among the city district where annually the traditional Moravian festivals takes place are Židenice, Líšeň, or Ivanovice.
Brno has hundreds of historical sights, including one designated a World Heritage Site
by UNESCO
and eight monuments listed among the national cultural heritage of the Czech republic. Majority of the main sights of Brno is situated its historical centre, the city has the second-largest historic preservation zone in the Czech Republic, the biggest one is in Prague
. However there is a considerable difference in the size of historical preservation zones in Brno and Prague, while Brno has 484 legally protected sights, Prague has 1 330. Brno can be referred to as a cradle of certain new trends in modern architecture
and especially in functionalism
. It is possible to see relatively a wide range of monuments built in this style here, probably the mots important one is Villa Tugendhat
. The following list shows only some of the most important sights of Brno. Objects marked with a star (
) officially ranks among the national cultural sights of the Czech Republic.
, this Latin
name means "the Flame of Brno"; it's part of a festival with a bold name "Brno - City in the Centre of Europe". Ignis Brunensis is the biggest show of its kind held in Central Europe, this event usually attracts one or two hundred thousand visitors every day it's being held. Next international festival is the Cinema Mundi (a Latin name which means something like "the Cinematography of the World"); it shows about 60 films competing for Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. The Theatre World Brno is another international festival annually held in the city where the Brno theatres and the city centre stages around one hundred performances by both national and foreign ensembles. There are many other festivals regularly held in Brno, for instance the International Music Festival Brno, the Spilberk International Music Festival, the Summer Shakespeare Festival, and many others...
at Zelný trh (en: the Vegetable Market). So the city has a long tradition in theatre productions, the first theatre plays in Brno took place probably in 1660s in the City Tavern, today's Reduta Theatre, however, the first "real theatre" with theatre boxes
was build in 1733 in this complex. The first documented professional Czech performance took place in 1767 again in the Reduta Theatre, the play was called Zamilovaný ponocný (en: Watchmen in Love) performed by the Venice Theatre Company, the same year Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
performed in the theatre with his older sister Anna Maria (Nannerl). In that year Mozart family was spending Christmas in Brno, this rare and precious visit reminds a statue of Mozart as a child in front of the Reduta Theatre and also the Reduta's Mozartův sál (en: the Mozart's Hall) was named after him.
The National Theatre Brno
is one of the leading representatives of the scene of opera
, drama
and ballet
in the city of Brno. The first permanent seat of the National Theatre Brno was established in year 1884 and it was called Národní divadlo v Brně (en: the National Theatre in Brno), today this institution owns the Mahen Theatre
, built in 1882, Janáček Theatre
built in 1965, and the Reduta Theatre
which is that Central Europe's oldest theatre. The composer Leoš Janáček
is also connected with the National Theatre Brno. And there is also one more interesting thing about the National Theatre Brno, the Mahen Theatre was the first theatre building which was illuminated by Thomas Edison
's electric light bulbs in the entire Europe, at that time it was a completely new invention and there were no power plants built in the city, so a small steam power plant was built nearby just to power the theatre, and Thomas Alva Edison came to Brno in 1911 to see this somewhat unique creation.
But probably the most accomplished and also the most successful theatre in Brno is the Brno City Theatre, it was founded in 1945, their performances have been permanently sold out since the year 1995, and on top of that, they stage about 150 performances abroad every year. Repertoire of this theatre consists primarily of musical and dramatical scene. Beside that there is a variety of smaller theatres in Brno, like Divadlo Bolka Polívky, Divadlo Husa na provázku, HaDivadlo, loutkové divadlo Radost, Divadlo Polárka, G Studio, Divadlo v 7 a půl - Kabinet múz, Divadlo Vaňkovka for children, etc. So the overall repertoire of theatres in Brno can be considered relatively wide and performances of foreign artistic ensembles are also not exceptional, for example performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts
in the Janáček Theatre
in the year 2011.
Theatres in Brno experienced a long development and the current seats of the theatres and their artistic ensembles might be considerably different from the original ones, for example the Mahen Theatre was originally called the City Theatre and until 1918 it performed only in German language and also it wasn't part of the National Theatre in Brno, there was similar situation regarding the Reduta Theatre. Between the years 1971 and 1978 some plays were even performed at Brno Exhibition Centre
due to reconstruction of the Mahen Theatre.
It is said that there was a terrible creature terrorizing the citizens of Brno. The people had never seen such a beast before so they called it a dragon. They trembled in fear of the dragon until a brave man decided to kill the monster by tricking it into eating a carcass filled with lime. The dragon was actually a crocodile which is now displayed at the entrance of the Old Town Hall. Crocodile motifs are common in Brno: a krokodil is the local stuffed baguette, and the city radio station is known as Radio Krokodil.
Beside the dragon the second town emblem is displayed, a waggon wheel made from a tree fifty miles from the city. For a wager, a local man felled the tree, made the wheel, and rolled it to Brno in a single day. Since this feat was considered impossible, he was later believed to have called on the devil for assistance, and he died in poverty as a result.
(ETCC) series. The road course ceased use at the end of 1986, when all motorsport activities resumed at the new permanent Masaryk Circuit
, which was completed in 1985. Among other events, it hosts the Moto GP series.
and the second in the Czech Republic. The museum was founded in 1817 and its collections include over 6 millions objects. The biggest public library in Brno is the Moravian Library, it's the second largest library in Czech Republic with about 4 million volumes. And the biggest gallery in Brno is the Moravian Gallery and again it's second largest institution of its kind the Czech Republic and the biggest in Moravia.
; it consists of 29 city districts (administrative divisions, cz: Městské části) the highest body of its self-government is the Assembly of the City of Brno (cz: Zastupitelstvo města Brna).
The city is headed by the Lord Mayor
(cz: primátor), he/she has right to use the mayor insignia and represents the city outwards, the current Lord Mayor is Romand Onderka. The executive body is the City Council (cz: Rada města Brna) and local councils of the city districts, the City Council has 11 members including the Lord Mayor and his four deputies.
The Assembly of the City elects the Lord Mayor and other member of the City Council, establishes the local police, and is also entitled to grant citizenship of honour and the Awards of the City of Brno. The head of the Assembly of the City of Brno in personal matters is the Chief Executive (cz: Tajemník magistrátu) who according to certain special regulations carries out the function of employer of the other members of the city management. The Chief Executive is directly responsible to the Lord Mayor.
The city itself forms a separate district the Brno-City District
(cz: Okres Brno-město) surrounded by the Brno-Country District
(cz: Okres Brno-venkov), Brno is divided into 29 administrative divisions (city districts) and consists of 48 cadastral areas
. This might sound confusing but there is a big difference between "a city district of Brno", "the Brno-City District" and "the Brno-Country District".
The city districts of Brno significantly varies in their size by both population and area. The most populated city district of Brno is the Brno-Centre which has over 91 thousand of residents and the less populated are Brno-Ořešín and Brno-Útěchov with about 500 residents. By its area the largest one is Brno-Bystrc with 27.24 square kilometres (10.5 sq mi) and the smallest is Brno-Nový Lískovec with 1.66 square kilometre (0.640929583263608 sq mi).
, Brno had only ca. 371,000 inhabitants at the same time. This difference is given by a different methodology for the census, the lower number comes from the census performed in year 2001 while the other one is regularly updated in much shorter interval so we might consider ~405,000 to be the more accurate value.
Brno experienced the largest increase in population in the 19. century in the time of the industrial revolution. A slight decrease in population of the city in 1989 was caused by suburbanisation.
and logician Kurt Gödel
were born here. Or the founder of genetics Gregor Mendel
worked in the St Thomas's Abbey
in Brno where he created his revolutionary scientific theories, Mendel University in Brno is named after him.
lines, 13 trolleybus
lines (the largest trolleybus network in the Czech Republic) and almost 40 day and 11 night bus lines. Trams have a long tradition in Brno, they first went to the streets in year 1869, it was the first operation of horse-drawn tram in the current Czech republic. The local public transport system is interconnected with regional public transport into one integrated system called IDS JMK and directly connects also a few nearby municipalities with the city. Its main operator is the DPmB company (Brno City Transport Company) which also operates a ferry route serving mainly for recreational purposes at the Brno Dam Lake, and for interested also a tourist minibus
providing a brief tour of the city. The city also plans to build a metro system
(S-Bahn
) because of locally overloaded trams and to lessen the congestion on the surface.
Railway transport first started to operate in the city in year 1839 on line Brno–Vienna
, this was the first operating railway line in the current Czech republic. Today's Brno is a railway junction of supranational importance, for passenger traffic there are nine stations and stops. Current main railway station
which the central hub of regional train services, used by about 50 000 passengers every day and passed by around 500 trains daily, is currently operating at full capacity. The current main station building is outdated and lack sufficient operating capacity but the construction of the new station was postponed for several times for various reasons.
Road transport makes Brno an international crossroad of highway
s. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city, D1 leading to Ostrava
and to Prague
and D2 leading to Bratislava
. Not far from the city limits there is also one expressway
R52 leading to Vienna
, another expressway R43 which should connect Brno to the northwestern Moravia
is planned. The city is gradually building the large city ring road
(road I/42), a few road tunnels were build (Tunnels Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky and Královopolský) and next tunnels are planned. Also, due to the congestion in private transport the city longer strives to build more parking ramps including underground ones, but this effort has not always been successful.
Air transport is enabled by two functional airports one of them is public international airport Airport Brno
. Passenger traffic at this airport has experienced a large increase in recent years, regular flights fly from there to for example London
, Rome
, Milan
and other cities, the airport also serve as one of two bases for police helicopters in Czech republic. The other one is a small domestic airport serving mainly recreational activities like flying hot air balloon
s, gliders
or aircraft RC models.
Cycling is widespread in Brno also due to lowland nature of the landscape. Existing tracks for cycling and skating on roller skates in 2011 measured in total approximately 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) and are gradually expanded. And there is also one long bikeway
leading to Vienna
, which is one of Brno's sister cities, the track is approximately 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) long. Brno passes also several hiking trails of the Czech Tourist Club.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia, with exception of Jobova Lhota, that belongs to Bohemia. Its capital is Brno the 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic. The region is famous for its wine...
where it forms a separate district Brno-City District
Brno-City District
Brno-City District is one of seven districts within South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is city Brno.-Complete list of municipalities:Brno...
. The city lies at the confluence
Confluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
of the Svitava
Svitava
The Svitava is a river in the Pardubice and South Moravian regions of the Czech Republic. The Svitava rises near Svitavy, passes through Blansko, and flows into the Svratka in the Moravian city of Brno....
and Svratka rivers and has over 400 thousand residents, its greater metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
is regularly home to more that 800 thousand people while its larger urban zone had population about 730 thousand in 2004.
Brno is the capital of judicial authority
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
of the Czech republic because it is the seat of the Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic
The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic is a specialized type of court which primarily works to protect the people of the Czech Republic against violations of the constitution. In this respect, it is similar in functionality to the US Supreme Court, but is distinct from the Supreme Court of...
, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the Czech Republic
The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest appeal for almost all legal cases heard in the Czech Republic. As set forth in the Constitution of the Czech Republic, however, cases of constitutionality, administrative law and political jurisdiction are heard by other courts...
, the Supreme Administrative Court
Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic
The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest authority on issues of procedural and administrative propriety. It also has jurisdiction over many political matters, such as the formation and closure of political parties, jurisdictional boundaries between government...
, and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office. Beside that, the city is significant administrative centre. It is the seat of number of state authorities like Ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
, Office for the Protection of Competition or the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority. Brno is also an important centre of higher education, with 33 faculties of 13 universities and about 89,000 students. There is also a studio of the Czech Television and the Czech Radio, in both cases by law. The city is also home to Brno Television, a small local television station.
Brno Exhibition Centre
Brno Exhibition Centre
Thanks to its geographic location between the capitals of Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and the Katowice region in the south of Poland, as well as the infrastructure and size of the fairgrounds, and backed by the Czech industrial base and tradition in manufacturing, the Brno Exhibition Center has...
ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe (23rd in the world), this huge complex first started functioning in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fair
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
s held in Brno, now it also ranks among one of the sights of the city. The city is also known for hosting big motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit
Masaryk Circuit
The Masaryk circuit or Masarykring, now referred to as the Brno Circuit, refers two Czech racing circuits located close to the city of Brno.The original circuit was made up of public roads, and at its longest measured nearly...
, this tradition was established in 1930 and the most prestigious races include the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix. Another notable cultural tradition includes an international fireworks competition Ignis Brunensis
Ignis brunensis
The Ignis Brunensis is an international firework competition held annually at the end of May and beginning of June in Brno, Czech Republic. The name of competition is Latin for Fire of Brno.-Program:...
, this event usually attracts one or two hundred thousand visitors every day it's being held.
The most important sights of the city include the castle and fortress Špilberk
Špilberk Castle
Špilberk Castle is an old castle on the hilltop in Brno, Southern Moravia. It began to be built as early as the first half of the 13th century by the Přemyslid kings and complete by King Přemyslid Otakar of Bohemia...
and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul
Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Brno
The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno is located on the Petrov hill in Brno-Center. It is a national cultural monument and one of the most important architectural monuments of South Moravia...
on Petrov hill, these two formerly medieval buildings form the characteristic cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols. The other large and preserved castle in the city is Veveří Castle
Veverí Castle
Veveří Castle is a castle located some 15 km northwest of Brno, Czech Republic, on the River Svratka.-History:Earliest references to Veveří Castle date back to the turn of the first millennium, when the duke Konrad founded a hunting lodge in the area...
near the Brno Dam Lake, this castle is a subject for a couple of legends like a number of other places in Brno. Another important monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat
Villa Tugendhat
Villa Tugendhat is a historical building in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe...
which has been included in the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
list of World Heritage Sites. Brno is surrounded by a relatively pleasant nature, one of the especially attractive areas nearby might be the Moravian Karst
Moravian Karst
The Moravian Karst is a karst landscape and protected nature reserve to the north of Brno in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, located near the town of Blansko. It encompasses a number of notable geological features, including roughly 1100 caverns and gorges and covers an area of roughly 92...
.
Etymology
The etymology of the name Brno is disputed. It most likely comes from Old CzechHistory of the Czech language
The Czech language developed at the close of the 1st millennium from common West Slavic. Until the 19th century, it was known as Bohemian.- Proto-Czech :...
brnen, brno 'muddy, swampy.' Alternative explanations derive it from a Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
verb brniti (to armor or to fortify) or a Celtic language
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
and later Slavic peoples
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
(this theory would make it cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with other Celtic words for hill, such as the Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
word bryn). Throughout its history, Brno's locals also used to refer to the town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין in Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
and Bruna in Latin.
The Asteroid 2889 Brno
2889 Brno
2889 Brno is a small main belt asteroid, which was discovered by the Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos in 1981. It is named after the Czech city of Brno....
was named after the city, as well as the Bren light machine gun (Brno + Enfield
London Borough of Enfield
The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough and forms part of Outer London. It borders the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Waltham Forest...
), a famous gun of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Brno today
- Over the past two decades Brno evolved into an important university city, the number of students of higher education institutions reached 89 thousand in 2010. The city also became home to a number of institutions directly related to research and developmentResearch and developmentThe phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
, like the Central European Institute of TechnologyCentral European Institute of TechnologyCEITEC is a project to develop a European centre of excellence in the fields of life sciences and advanced materials and technologies, which is being jointly undertaken by the most prominent Brno universities and research institutes, with the support of the South...
(CEITEC), or the International Clinical Research CenterInternational Clinical Research Centeris a conceptually novel project in biomedical research and clinical patient care which is being developed by the Czech Republic and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota...
in Brno (ICRC). The city is also gaining importance in various fields of engineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, especially in software development, there is a number of companies focused on development operating in Brno. For example, AVG TechnologiesAVG TechnologiesAVG Technologies is a privately held Czech company formed in 1991 by Jan Gritzbach and Tomas Hofer, with corporate offices in Europe and the United States...
(headquarters), IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
(Delivery Centre Central Europe Brno), HoneywellHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
(Honeywell Global Design Center Brno), SiemensSiemensSiemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, SGISilicon Graphics InternationalSilicon Graphics International Corp. , is an American manufacturer of computer hardware and software, including high-performance computing solutions, x86-based servers for datacenter deployment, and visualization products...
(CZ headquarters), Red HatRed HatRed Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
(CZ headquarters), MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, etc. - The Brno Exhibition CentreBrno Exhibition CentreThanks to its geographic location between the capitals of Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and the Katowice region in the south of Poland, as well as the infrastructure and size of the fairgrounds, and backed by the Czech industrial base and tradition in manufacturing, the Brno Exhibition Center has...
is the city's premier attraction for international business visitors. Annually, over one million visitors attend over 40 professional trade fairs and business conferences held here. The exhibition and convention industry contributes heavily to the region’s economy. Thanks to its excellent infrastructure and modern facilities, the Brno Exhibition CentreBrno Exhibition CentreThanks to its geographic location between the capitals of Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and the Katowice region in the south of Poland, as well as the infrastructure and size of the fairgrounds, and backed by the Czech industrial base and tradition in manufacturing, the Brno Exhibition Center has...
has a prominent position in the region. - Janáček Academy of Music and Performing ArtsJanácek Academy of Music and Performing ArtsJanáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts is a university-level school in Brno in the Czech Republic.The Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts is one of two academies of music and the dramatic arts in the Czech Republic...
, named after Leoš JanáčekLeoš JanácekLeoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
, was founded in 1947 and is one of two academies of music and drama in the Czech Republic. It holds the annual Leoš Janáček Competition. - Masaryk UniversityMasaryk UniversityMasaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
, located in Brno, is the second-largest public university in the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and leading higher education institution in MoraviaMoraviaMoravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. Today, it consists of nine faculties, with more than 190 departments, institutes and clinics. In the Czech Republic it is commonly regarded as one of the most significant institutions for education and research in the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and a respected Central European university. With democratic traditions advocated since its establishment in 1919. - Špilberk CastleŠpilberk CastleŠpilberk Castle is an old castle on the hilltop in Brno, Southern Moravia. It began to be built as early as the first half of the 13th century by the Přemyslid kings and complete by King Přemyslid Otakar of Bohemia...
, originally a royal castle, but from the 17th century a fortress and feared prison (e.g. CarbonariCarbonariThe Carbonari were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in Spain, France, Portugal and possibly Russia. Although their goals often had a patriotic and liberal focus, they lacked a...
) is one of the city's principal monuments, as is the Cathedral of St. Peter and PaulCathedral of St. Peter and Paul, BrnoThe Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno is located on the Petrov hill in Brno-Center. It is a national cultural monument and one of the most important architectural monuments of South Moravia...
. The cathedral was built during the 14th and 15th centuries. - Ignis BrunensisIgnis brunensisThe Ignis Brunensis is an international firework competition held annually at the end of May and beginning of June in Brno, Czech Republic. The name of competition is Latin for Fire of Brno.-Program:...
, an international fireworksFireworksFireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
competition, is held each June. The show attracts more than 1,000,000 spectators each year. - Villa TugendhatVilla TugendhatVilla Tugendhat is a historical building in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe...
, an example of functionalistic architecture designed by Mies van der Rohe built in the late 1920s close to the centre of the city, was designated a World Heritage SiteWorld Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
by UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
in 2001. Another renowned architect who significantly shaped Brno was Arnošt WiesnerArnošt WiesnerErnst Wiesner, also known as Arnošt Wiesner was a modernist architect, one of the foremost interwar period architects of Brno....
. Many of his functionalistic buildings can be found all around the city. - The Brno University of TechnologyBrno University of TechnologyBrno University of Technology is a university located in Brno, Czech Republic...
was established in 1899, and now it ranks among the biggest universities in Brno. There is the Czech Technology ParkCzech Technology ParkThe Czech Technology Park is a low density development providing modern business premises for technology companies in a business park environment adjacent to the Brno University of Technology. The park is intended to provide a total of 190,000m2 of mixed commercial accommodation for office,...
adjacent to the university campus of the Brno University of Technology in Královo Pole. - Every September, Brno is home to a large wine festival (Slavnosti vína) to celebrate the harvest in the surrounding wine-producingCzech wineWine in the Czech Republic is produced mainly in southern Moravia, although a few vineyards are located in Bohemia. However, Moravia accounts for around 96% of the country's vineyards, which is why Czech wine is more often referred to as Moravian wine ...
region. - HantecHantecHantec is a unique slang previously spoken among lower classes in Brno, Czech Republic during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It developed from the mixing of the Czech language as spoken in Moravia with the languages of other residents of Brno, including Germans and Jews...
is a unique dialectDialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
that originated in Brno. - Brno is the home to the highest courts in the Czech judiciaryJudiciary of the Czech RepublicThe judiciary of the Czech Republic is an independent branch of government. It has three main divisions, all of which have distinct jurisdictions, defined both by the constitution and subsequent statute....
. The Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the Czech RepublicThe Supreme Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest appeal for almost all legal cases heard in the Czech Republic. As set forth in the Constitution of the Czech Republic, however, cases of constitutionality, administrative law and political jurisdiction are heard by other courts...
is on Burešova Street, the Supreme Administrative CourtSupreme Administrative Court of the Czech RepublicThe Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic is the court of highest authority on issues of procedural and administrative propriety. It also has jurisdiction over many political matters, such as the formation and closure of political parties, jurisdictional boundaries between government...
is on Moravské náměstí (Moravian Square), and the Constitutional CourtConstitutional Court of the Czech RepublicThe Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic is a specialized type of court which primarily works to protect the people of the Czech Republic against violations of the constitution. In this respect, it is similar in functionality to the US Supreme Court, but is distinct from the Supreme Court of...
is on Joštova Street, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office of the Czech Republic in on Jezuitská street. - Brno is home to a Synagogue and the largest Jewish cemeteryJewish cemeteryA Jewish cemetery is a cemetery where members of the Jewish faith are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition....
in MoraviaMoraviaMoravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. A Jewish population lived in Brno as early as the 13th century, and remnants of tombstones can be traced back to as early as 1349. The functionalist synagogue was built between 1934 and 1936. While there were 12,000 members of the Brno Jewish community in 1938, only 1,000 survived the Nazi persecution during Germany's occupation in World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Today, the cemetery and synagogue are maintained by a Brno Jewish community once again. - Brno is also home to the only Czech mosqueMosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, founded in 1998.
History
The Brno basin has been inhabited since prehistoric era, however, the direct ancestor of Brno was a fortified settlement of the Great Moravia EmpireGreat Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
known as Staré Zámky which was inhabited since the Neolithic Age to the early 11th century. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of non-ruling Prince from the House of Přemyslid, and Brno became one of the centres of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
along with Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
and Znojmo
Znojmo
Znojmo is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, near the border with Lower Austria, connected to Vienna by railway and road . The royal city of Znojmo was founded shortly before 1226 by King Ottokar I on the plains in front of Znojmo Castle...
.
In the 11th century there was founded a chapel on the Petrov hill, since then, the chapel has undergone many changes which after centuries resulted in the current Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul
Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Brno
The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Brno is located on the Petrov hill in Brno-Center. It is a national cultural monument and one of the most important architectural monuments of South Moravia...
. The Spilberk Castle
Špilberk Castle
Špilberk Castle is an old castle on the hilltop in Brno, Southern Moravia. It began to be built as early as the first half of the 13th century by the Přemyslid kings and complete by King Přemyslid Otakar of Bohemia...
was founded in the 13th century, originally as the major royal castle in Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. In the 1243 Brno received the large and small city privileges from the King, and thus it was recognized as a royal city. In 1324 Queen Elisabeth Richeza of Poland
Elisabeth Richeza of Poland
Elisabeth Richenza of Poland was a daughter and the only surviving child of Przemysl II of Poland and his second wife Richenza of Sweden, herself a daughter of Valdemar I of Sweden and Sofia of Denmark.Her name at birth was Richeza; she adopted the name Elisabeth after her first marriage...
(cz: Eliška Rejčka) founded the current Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady where is now her final resting place. In the 14th century, Brno became one of the centres for the Moravian regional assemblies, whose meetings alternated between Brno and Olomouc. These assemblies made political, legal, and financial decisions. Brno and Olomouc were also the seats of the Land Court and the Land Tables, thus they were the two most important cities in Moravia. From the mid of 14th century to the early 15th century the Spilberk Castle had served as the permanent seat of the Margraves of Moravia (Moravian rulers), one of them was elected the King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
.
In the 1641 Brno became the only capital of Moravia. During the 17th century the Spilberk Castle was rebuild into a huge baroque citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
. In 1777 the Brno Bishopric was established. In 1839 the first train arrived to Brno from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, this event was the begging of the rail transport in the today's Czech Republic. In the years 1859-1864 the city fortification was almost completely removed. In 1869 a horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
service started to operate in Brno, it was the first tram service in the today's Czech Republic.
Major battles
- In the 15th century Brno was besieged twice, in 1428 and again in 1430 by the HussiteHussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
s during the Hussite WarsHussite WarsThe Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
. But both attempts to conquer the city have failed. - In the 17th century Swedish army under the leadership of General Lennart TorstensonLennart TorstensonLennart Torstenson, Count of Ortala, Baron of Virestad , was a Swedish Field Marshal and military engineer.-Early career:He was born at Forstena in Västergötland - he always wrote his name Linnardt Torstenson...
laid siege to the city in 1643 and in 1645. This was an important part of the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, and Brno was the only city in Moravia which succeeded in defending itself against Swedish sieges. - In the 18th century Brno was besieged by Prussians in 1742 under the leadership of Frederick the Great, but also without success.
- In December 1805, Battle of AusterlitzBattle of AusterlitzThe Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
, took place nearby the city, the battle is also known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors". Brno itself didn't interfere with the battle but the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte spent several night here and again in 1809. - In the year 1945 Brno was invaded by the Red ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
under the leadership of Rodion MalinovskyRodion MalinovskyRodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky was a Soviet military commander in World War II and Defense Minister of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to the major defeat of Nazi Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Budapest...
. Thus Brno was liberated from the Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during the World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Then 40 years of communismCommunismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
came with devastating effect on the city and the entire Moravia.
The capital city of Moravia
In the mid 11th century Moravia was divided into three separate territories, while each one of them had its own ruler independent on the other two. Seats of these rulers and thus "capitals" of these territories were castles/towns of OlomoucOlomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
, Znojmo
Znojmo
Znojmo is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, near the border with Lower Austria, connected to Vienna by railway and road . The royal city of Znojmo was founded shortly before 1226 by King Ottokar I on the plains in front of Znojmo Castle...
, and Brno. In the late 12 century Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia, since then, until the mid 17 century, it wasn't clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. So the political power was "evenly" divided between Brno and Olomouc but Znojmo also played and an important role. The Moravian Diet (cz: zemský sněm), the Moravian Land Tables (cz: zemské desky), and the Moravian Supreme Court (cz: zemský soud) were all seated in both cities at once. Olomouc was the seat of the only bishopric in Moravia, later also of the only Moravian university, and it was a bigger than Brno, while Brno was the seat of Maravian Margraves (rulers of Moravia), and later its position closer to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
became also important.
In 1641 the Holy Roman Emperor and Margrave of Moravia Ferdinand III
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...
commanded permanent relocation of the diet, court, and the land tables from Olomouc to Brno. And in 1642 Olomouc surrendered to the Swedish army, while Brno was the only Moravian city which managed to defend itself. Since then, the only capital city of Moravia was Brno, until 1948 when communistic government finally abolished the Moravian autonomy. At the present day the Moravian Land Tables are stored in the Moravian Regional Archive, and ranks among the national cultural sights of the Czech republic.
The 20th century and the Greater Brno
In 1919 two adjacent towns, the town of Královo Pole, and the town of Husovice, and 21 other municipalities were annexed to Brno, creating the Greater Brno (cz: Velké Brno). The Greater Brno had 7 times larger area and population of about 222 thousand, before that Brno had about 130 thousand of citizens. In the year 1921 Brno became the capital city of the Land of Moravia (cz: země Moravská), before that Brno was the capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia, seven years later, Brno became the capital of the Land of Moravia-Silesia (cz: země Moravskoslezská). In 1939 Brno was occupied by the army of Nazi Germany, in 1945 it was liberated by the Red Army.At the beginning of the Communism Era in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, in 1948, Brno ceased to serve as the capital city of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. Since then Moravia is divided into a few administrative regions subdued to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, and Brno is the seat of the Regional Authority of the South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia, with exception of Jobova Lhota, that belongs to Bohemia. Its capital is Brno the 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic. The region is famous for its wine...
, originally called the Brno Region. In 1968 Brno was recognized as a statutory city
Statutory city
A Statutory city is a city with its own municipal law or city statute.-Austria:...
.
Geography and climate
Brno is located in the southeastern part of the Czech republic, at the confluenceConfluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
of the Svitava
Svitava
The Svitava is a river in the Pardubice and South Moravian regions of the Czech Republic. The Svitava rises near Svitavy, passes through Blansko, and flows into the Svratka in the Moravian city of Brno....
and Svratka rivers and there are also several brooks flowing through it including the Veverka, Ponávka, and Říčka. The Svratka River flows through the city for about 29 km (18.02 mi), the Svitava River cuts a 13 km (8.08 mi) path through the city. The length of Brno is 21.5 km (13.36 mi) measured from the east to the west and its overall area is 230 km² (88.8 sq mi). Inside of the city limits there is the Brno Dam Lake, several ponds, and other standing bodies of water, for example reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
s in the Marian Valley or the Žebětín Pond. Brno is surrounded by woody hills from three sides; a significant part of the area of the city is forest, about 6379 ha (15,762.84 acre), i.e. 28%. Due to its location between the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands
Bohemian-Moravian Highlands
The Bohemian-Moravian Highlands is an extensive range of hills and low mountains over long, which runs in a northeasterly direction across the Czech Republic and forms the border between Bohemia and Moravia...
and the Southern Moravian lowlands, Brno has a moderate climate. Brno have a very high air quality ensured by a good natural circulation of air, no severely violent storms or similar natural disasters have ever been recorded in the city. The average temperature is 9.4 °C (49 °F), the average annual precipitation is about 505 mm (19.88 in), the avgerage number of precipitation days is 150, the average annual sunshine is 1,771 hours, and the prevailing wind direction is northwest. Its elevation above the sea level is varying from 190 m (623.36 ft) to 425 m (1,394.36 ft), and its highest point in the area is the Kopeček Hill. There are dozens of legally protected areas which are protected because of their ecological and/or natural values, like the Moravian Karst
Moravian Karst
The Moravian Karst is a karst landscape and protected nature reserve to the north of Brno in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, located near the town of Blansko. It encompasses a number of notable geological features, including roughly 1100 caverns and gorges and covers an area of roughly 92...
, Stránská Skála, and others.
Brno is the former capital city of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
and the political and cultural hub of the South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia, with exception of Jobova Lhota, that belongs to Bohemia. Its capital is Brno the 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic. The region is famous for its wine...
. The city has over 400 thousand residents. Its urban agglomeration has approximately 450 thousand residents. Its larger urban zone had a population of about 730 thousand in 2004 while its greater metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
is home to more than 800 thousand people,. The estimated population of the South Moravian Region is 1.2 million people. According to the Eurostat population estimate from the year 2004 Brno had 367,729 inhabitants, which ranks it among the 100 largest cities of the EU
Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
This is a list of the largest cities in the European Union by population within city limits which have more than 300,000 inhabitants. It deals exclusively with the areas within city administrative boundaries as opposed to urban areas or metropolitan areas, which are generally larger in terms of...
. Brno is situated at the crossroads of ancient trade routes which have joined northern and southern European civilizations for centuries, and as a part of the Danube basin region. The city is historically connected with Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
which lies a mere 110 km (68.35 mi) to the south.
Culture
The City spends on culture about 30 million EUR every year. There are many museums, theatres and other cultural institutions in Brno, the city is also a vibrant university city with about 90 thousand students, a number of festivals, exhibitions, and other cultural events.Since the 1990s Brno is experiencing a great cultural "rebirth", facades of historical monuments are being repaired and various exhibitions, shows, etc. are being established or extended. However the city still might have a bad reputation of "a dirty industrial town with nothing worthy of seeing".
In 2007 there was a summit of 15 presidents of the EU Member States held in Brno, in 1996 the Queen Elizabeth II visited the city, then in 2010, her son, Prince Charles, in 2009 the Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, and others.
Despite its urban character Brno still preserves traditional Moravian folklore, including folk festivals with tradition Moravian national costumes (cz: kroje), Moravian wines, folk music and dances, and other things. Unlike smaller municipalities, in Brno the traditional folk festivals are held locally by certain city districts, among the city district where annually the traditional Moravian festivals takes place are Židenice, Líšeň, or Ivanovice.
Sights
Possibly thanks to its history of the former capital city of MoraviaMoravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
Brno has hundreds of historical sights, including one designated a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
and eight monuments listed among the national cultural heritage of the Czech republic. Majority of the main sights of Brno is situated its historical centre, the city has the second-largest historic preservation zone in the Czech Republic, the biggest one is in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. However there is a considerable difference in the size of historical preservation zones in Brno and Prague, while Brno has 484 legally protected sights, Prague has 1 330. Brno can be referred to as a cradle of certain new trends in modern architecture
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
and especially in functionalism
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
. It is possible to see relatively a wide range of monuments built in this style here, probably the mots important one is Villa Tugendhat
Villa Tugendhat
Villa Tugendhat is a historical building in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe...
. The following list shows only some of the most important sights of Brno. Objects marked with a star (
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Festivals
The biggest festival held in Brno the fireworks festival Ignis BrunensisIgnis brunensis
The Ignis Brunensis is an international firework competition held annually at the end of May and beginning of June in Brno, Czech Republic. The name of competition is Latin for Fire of Brno.-Program:...
, this Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name means "the Flame of Brno"; it's part of a festival with a bold name "Brno - City in the Centre of Europe". Ignis Brunensis is the biggest show of its kind held in Central Europe, this event usually attracts one or two hundred thousand visitors every day it's being held. Next international festival is the Cinema Mundi (a Latin name which means something like "the Cinematography of the World"); it shows about 60 films competing for Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. The Theatre World Brno is another international festival annually held in the city where the Brno theatres and the city centre stages around one hundred performances by both national and foreign ensembles. There are many other festivals regularly held in Brno, for instance the International Music Festival Brno, the Spilberk International Music Festival, the Summer Shakespeare Festival, and many others...
Theatres
Brno has the oldest theatre building in Central Europe, it's the Reduta TheatreReduta Theatre
The Reduta Theatre is a theatre situated in Brno, Czech Republic. It was built on the city's oldest square, Zelný trh and began its life in Renaissance times as the Taverna Theatre. In 1767, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed with his sister in a concert there...
at Zelný trh (en: the Vegetable Market). So the city has a long tradition in theatre productions, the first theatre plays in Brno took place probably in 1660s in the City Tavern, today's Reduta Theatre, however, the first "real theatre" with theatre boxes
Box (theatre)
In theater, a box is a small, separated seating area in the auditorium for a limited number of people.Boxes are typically placed immediately to the front, side and above the level of the stage. They are often separate rooms with an open viewing area which typically seat five people or fewer. ...
was build in 1733 in this complex. The first documented professional Czech performance took place in 1767 again in the Reduta Theatre, the play was called Zamilovaný ponocný (en: Watchmen in Love) performed by the Venice Theatre Company, the same year Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
performed in the theatre with his older sister Anna Maria (Nannerl). In that year Mozart family was spending Christmas in Brno, this rare and precious visit reminds a statue of Mozart as a child in front of the Reduta Theatre and also the Reduta's Mozartův sál (en: the Mozart's Hall) was named after him.
The National Theatre Brno
National Theatre (Brno)
The National Theatre in Brno is the major theatre house in Brno. It was established in 1884 by model of the National Theatre in Prague.Nowadays it consists of three stages:...
is one of the leading representatives of the scene of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
in the city of Brno. The first permanent seat of the National Theatre Brno was established in year 1884 and it was called Národní divadlo v Brně (en: the National Theatre in Brno), today this institution owns the Mahen Theatre
Mahen Theatre
Mahen Theatre is a Czech theatre situated in the city of Brno. Mahen Theatre, built as German Deutsches Stadttheater in 1882, was one of the first public buildings in the world lit entirely by electric light...
, built in 1882, Janáček Theatre
Janáček Theatre
Janáček Theatre is a theatre situated in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. It is a part of the National Theatre in Brno. It was built from 1960 to 1965, and opened in October 1965...
built in 1965, and the Reduta Theatre
Reduta Theatre
The Reduta Theatre is a theatre situated in Brno, Czech Republic. It was built on the city's oldest square, Zelný trh and began its life in Renaissance times as the Taverna Theatre. In 1767, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed with his sister in a concert there...
which is that Central Europe's oldest theatre. The composer Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
is also connected with the National Theatre Brno. And there is also one more interesting thing about the National Theatre Brno, the Mahen Theatre was the first theatre building which was illuminated by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
's electric light bulbs in the entire Europe, at that time it was a completely new invention and there were no power plants built in the city, so a small steam power plant was built nearby just to power the theatre, and Thomas Alva Edison came to Brno in 1911 to see this somewhat unique creation.
But probably the most accomplished and also the most successful theatre in Brno is the Brno City Theatre, it was founded in 1945, their performances have been permanently sold out since the year 1995, and on top of that, they stage about 150 performances abroad every year. Repertoire of this theatre consists primarily of musical and dramatical scene. Beside that there is a variety of smaller theatres in Brno, like Divadlo Bolka Polívky, Divadlo Husa na provázku, HaDivadlo, loutkové divadlo Radost, Divadlo Polárka, G Studio, Divadlo v 7 a půl - Kabinet múz, Divadlo Vaňkovka for children, etc. So the overall repertoire of theatres in Brno can be considered relatively wide and performances of foreign artistic ensembles are also not exceptional, for example performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts
Shen Yun Performing Arts
Shen Yun Performing Arts, formerly known as Divine Performing Arts, is a performing arts and entertainment company based in New York City...
in the Janáček Theatre
Janáček Theatre
Janáček Theatre is a theatre situated in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. It is a part of the National Theatre in Brno. It was built from 1960 to 1965, and opened in October 1965...
in the year 2011.
Theatres in Brno experienced a long development and the current seats of the theatres and their artistic ensembles might be considerably different from the original ones, for example the Mahen Theatre was originally called the City Theatre and until 1918 it performed only in German language and also it wasn't part of the National Theatre in Brno, there was similar situation regarding the Reduta Theatre. Between the years 1971 and 1978 some plays were even performed at Brno Exhibition Centre
Brno Exhibition Centre
Thanks to its geographic location between the capitals of Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and the Katowice region in the south of Poland, as well as the infrastructure and size of the fairgrounds, and backed by the Czech industrial base and tradition in manufacturing, the Brno Exhibition Center has...
due to reconstruction of the Mahen Theatre.
Brno Legends
There are several legends connected with the history of the City of Brno; one of the best known is the Legend of the Brno Dragon.It is said that there was a terrible creature terrorizing the citizens of Brno. The people had never seen such a beast before so they called it a dragon. They trembled in fear of the dragon until a brave man decided to kill the monster by tricking it into eating a carcass filled with lime. The dragon was actually a crocodile which is now displayed at the entrance of the Old Town Hall. Crocodile motifs are common in Brno: a krokodil is the local stuffed baguette, and the city radio station is known as Radio Krokodil.
Beside the dragon the second town emblem is displayed, a waggon wheel made from a tree fifty miles from the city. For a wager, a local man felled the tree, made the wheel, and rolled it to Brno in a single day. Since this feat was considered impossible, he was later believed to have called on the devil for assistance, and he died in poverty as a result.
Sport
The town has a long history of motor racing. Since 1968, Brno has been a permanent fixture on the European Touring Car ChampionshipEuropean Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004...
(ETCC) series. The road course ceased use at the end of 1986, when all motorsport activities resumed at the new permanent Masaryk Circuit
Masaryk Circuit
The Masaryk circuit or Masarykring, now referred to as the Brno Circuit, refers two Czech racing circuits located close to the city of Brno.The original circuit was made up of public roads, and at its longest measured nearly...
, which was completed in 1985. Among other events, it hosts the Moto GP series.
Museums, libraries, and galleries
The most significant museum in Brno is the Moravian Museum which is the largest and the biggest museum in MoraviaMoravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
and the second in the Czech Republic. The museum was founded in 1817 and its collections include over 6 millions objects. The biggest public library in Brno is the Moravian Library, it's the second largest library in Czech Republic with about 4 million volumes. And the biggest gallery in Brno is the Moravian Gallery and again it's second largest institution of its kind the Czech Republic and the biggest in Moravia.
City local government
By law Brno is a statutory cityStatutory city
A Statutory city is a city with its own municipal law or city statute.-Austria:...
; it consists of 29 city districts (administrative divisions, cz: Městské části) the highest body of its self-government is the Assembly of the City of Brno (cz: Zastupitelstvo města Brna).
The city is headed by the Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...
(cz: primátor), he/she has right to use the mayor insignia and represents the city outwards, the current Lord Mayor is Romand Onderka. The executive body is the City Council (cz: Rada města Brna) and local councils of the city districts, the City Council has 11 members including the Lord Mayor and his four deputies.
The Assembly of the City elects the Lord Mayor and other member of the City Council, establishes the local police, and is also entitled to grant citizenship of honour and the Awards of the City of Brno. The head of the Assembly of the City of Brno in personal matters is the Chief Executive (cz: Tajemník magistrátu) who according to certain special regulations carries out the function of employer of the other members of the city management. The Chief Executive is directly responsible to the Lord Mayor.
The city itself forms a separate district the Brno-City District
Brno-City District
Brno-City District is one of seven districts within South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is city Brno.-Complete list of municipalities:Brno...
(cz: Okres Brno-město) surrounded by the Brno-Country District
Brno-Country District
Brno-Country District is one of seven districts within South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic...
(cz: Okres Brno-venkov), Brno is divided into 29 administrative divisions (city districts) and consists of 48 cadastral areas
Cadastre
A cadastre , using a cadastral survey or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the metes-and-bounds real property of a country...
. This might sound confusing but there is a big difference between "a city district of Brno", "the Brno-City District" and "the Brno-Country District".
The city districts of Brno significantly varies in their size by both population and area. The most populated city district of Brno is the Brno-Centre which has over 91 thousand of residents and the less populated are Brno-Ořešín and Brno-Útěchov with about 500 residents. By its area the largest one is Brno-Bystrc with 27.24 square kilometres (10.5 sq mi) and the smallest is Brno-Nový Lískovec with 1.66 square kilometre (0.640929583263608 sq mi).
Demography
According to the Czech Ministry of the Interior there was about 405,000 citizens including foreigners with registered permanent residence in Brno in January 2011. It's interesting, however, that according to the Czech Statistical OfficeCzech Statistical Office
The Czech Statistical Office is the main organization which collects, analyzes and disseminates statistical information for the benefit of the various parts of the local and national governments of the Czech Republic...
, Brno had only ca. 371,000 inhabitants at the same time. This difference is given by a different methodology for the census, the lower number comes from the census performed in year 2001 while the other one is regularly updated in much shorter interval so we might consider ~405,000 to be the more accurate value.
Brno experienced the largest increase in population in the 19. century in the time of the industrial revolution. A slight decrease in population of the city in 1989 was caused by suburbanisation.
Notable people connected with Brno
Many notable people are connected with Brno, such as worldwide known scientists or famous cultural figures. For instance physicist Ernst MachErnst Mach
Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves...
and logician Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel
Kurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape the effects of World War II. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the...
were born here. Or the founder of genetics Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
worked in the St Thomas's Abbey
St Thomas's Abbey, Brno
St Thomas's Abbey in Brno a big austrian church]] located in the Czech Republic. The geneticist and Abbot Gregor Mendel was its most famous religious leader to date, and between 1856 and 1863 conducted his experiments on pea plants in the monastery garden...
in Brno where he created his revolutionary scientific theories, Mendel University in Brno is named after him.
Transportation infrastructure
Public transport in Brno consists of 13 tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
lines, 13 trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
lines (the largest trolleybus network in the Czech Republic) and almost 40 day and 11 night bus lines. Trams have a long tradition in Brno, they first went to the streets in year 1869, it was the first operation of horse-drawn tram in the current Czech republic. The local public transport system is interconnected with regional public transport into one integrated system called IDS JMK and directly connects also a few nearby municipalities with the city. Its main operator is the DPmB company (Brno City Transport Company) which also operates a ferry route serving mainly for recreational purposes at the Brno Dam Lake, and for interested also a tourist minibus
Minibus
A minibus or minicoach is a passenger carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger carrying van. Minibuses have a...
providing a brief tour of the city. The city also plans to build a metro system
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
(S-Bahn
S-Bahn
S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...
) because of locally overloaded trams and to lessen the congestion on the surface.
Railway transport first started to operate in the city in year 1839 on line Brno–Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, this was the first operating railway line in the current Czech republic. Today's Brno is a railway junction of supranational importance, for passenger traffic there are nine stations and stops. Current main railway station
Brno hlavní nádraží
thumb|right|The station from the frontBrno hlavní nádraží is the principal railway station in Brno, the largest city in the South Moravian Region and second largest in the Czech Republic...
which the central hub of regional train services, used by about 50 000 passengers every day and passed by around 500 trains daily, is currently operating at full capacity. The current main station building is outdated and lack sufficient operating capacity but the construction of the new station was postponed for several times for various reasons.
Road transport makes Brno an international crossroad of highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
s. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city, D1 leading to Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
and to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and D2 leading to Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
. Not far from the city limits there is also one expressway
Limited-access road
A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...
R52 leading to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, another expressway R43 which should connect Brno to the northwestern Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
is planned. The city is gradually building the large city ring road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
(road I/42), a few road tunnels were build (Tunnels Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky and Královopolský) and next tunnels are planned. Also, due to the congestion in private transport the city longer strives to build more parking ramps including underground ones, but this effort has not always been successful.
Air transport is enabled by two functional airports one of them is public international airport Airport Brno
Brno-Turany Airport
Brno-Tuřany Airport is an airport near Brno, Czech Republic. 396,589 passengers passed through the Brno-Tuřany passenger terminal in 2010, an decrease of 10% on the previous year and even higher decrease compared to airport best year in history - 2008 when 506,174 passangers passed through it.The...
. Passenger traffic at this airport has experienced a large increase in recent years, regular flights fly from there to for example London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and other cities, the airport also serve as one of two bases for police helicopters in Czech republic. The other one is a small domestic airport serving mainly recreational activities like flying hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
s, gliders
Glider aircraft
Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can...
or aircraft RC models.
Cycling is widespread in Brno also due to lowland nature of the landscape. Existing tracks for cycling and skating on roller skates in 2011 measured in total approximately 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) and are gradually expanded. And there is also one long bikeway
Bikeway
A Bikeway is a route, way or path which in some manner is specifically designed and /or designated for bicycle travel.-See also:*Bicycle boulevard*Bicycle trail*Bicycle transportation engineering*Foreshoreway*Greenway* List of cycleways...
leading to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, which is one of Brno's sister cities, the track is approximately 130 kilometres (80.8 mi) long. Brno passes also several hiking trails of the Czech Tourist Club.
Twin towns—Sister cities
Brno is twinned with the following cities:| Dallas Dallas, Texas Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States... , Texas, United States. Kaunas Kaunas Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation... , Lithuania. Kharkiv Kharkiv Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was... , Ukraine. Leeds Leeds Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial... , United Kingdom. |
Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing... , Germany. Poznań Poznan Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be... , Poland. Rennes Rennes Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:... , France. Sankt Pölten Sankt Pölten Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city... , Austria. |
Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , Germany. Utrecht Utrecht (city) Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features... , The Netherlands. Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre... , Austria. Voronezh Voronezh Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway... , Russia. |
Nearby cities
This tool shows only cities with population over 300,000 in radius of 300 km (186.41 mi).See also
- Central European Institute of TechnologyCentral European Institute of TechnologyCEITEC is a project to develop a European centre of excellence in the fields of life sciences and advanced materials and technologies, which is being jointly undertaken by the most prominent Brno universities and research institutes, with the support of the South...
- Churches of BrnoChurches of BrnoThe majority of church buildings in Brno belong to the Roman Catholic Church, others mainly to Protestant Churches. In addition, there are also a synagogue and a mosque...
- Gregor MendelGregor MendelGregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. Mendel demonstrated that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants follows particular patterns, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance...
, the father of genetics - National Theatre (Brno)National Theatre (Brno)The National Theatre in Brno is the major theatre house in Brno. It was established in 1884 by model of the National Theatre in Prague.Nowadays it consists of three stages:...
External links
- Brno – Official Web site
- Brno Now – latest news for expats working, studying or doing business in Brno, Czech Republic
- Tourist Information Center Brno
- Brno at the official website of the Czech Republic.
- Brno for me – tourist guide with plenty of photos