Brno is a statutory city, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic and the centre of Moravia.[1] It is the regional capital of the South Moravian Region and lies at the confluence of the Svratka and the Svitava.[2] According to the Czech Statistical Office, it had 402,739 inhabitants on 1 January 2025.[3] Almost a third of the region's population lives in the city.[1]*
Location and divisions
The city covers 230 km² at elevations between 190 and 425 m. It is surrounded on three sides by wooded hills and opens to the South Moravian lowland in the south; spurs of the Drahany and Bohemian-Moravian Highlands reach it from the north-west, and the Moravian Karst lies to the north-east. The Brno Reservoir was created on the Svratka in the north-west of the city.[1] The statutory city is divided into 29 city districts. Greater Brno was created in 1919 by merging 23 suburban municipalities; Líšeň was added in 1944, Bystrc in 1960 and another 11 municipalities between 1961 and 1980. The present city districts have existed since 1990.[1] The D1 and D2 motorways meet in Brno, and there is an international airport in the Brno-Tuřany district.[1]
History
The city was named after a settlement at a ford across the Svratka, today's Staré Brno, which arose around the year 1000. From the 11th century a castle of a Přemyslid appanage prince stood here. In 1243 King Wenceslas I granted the town the so-called greater and lesser privileges, which became the legal basis of its development. The walls had five gates: Měnínská, Židovská, Starobrněnská, Veselá and Běhounská. In the 14th century Brno was the seat of the Moravian margraves and the Moravian diets and had about 1,000 houses and 11,000 inhabitants.[1] Above the city stands Špilberk Castle, a Gothic seat of the margraves later rebuilt as a Baroque bastion fortress. The Památkový katalog (Heritage Catalogue) of the National Heritage Institute lists it as a national cultural monument since 1998.[4]
During the Thirty Years' War the Swedish army of Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson laid siege to Brno on 3 May 1645. The defence was led by Colonel Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, and besides the garrison it involved townspeople and students. The general assault on 15 August failed, and on 23 August 1645 the Swedes withdrew. Brno thus became the only Moravian town to hold out against the Swedish army.[5]
In the 18th century industry developed, above all textiles, which employed around 10,000 people. The city grew, the walls were demolished, and in 1850 32 surrounding municipalities were joined to it, raising the population to 46,000. The first train arrived in Brno in 1839, and gas lighting and a street railway were introduced. Secondary schools and universities were founded, first German and later Czech. Engineering grew in the 19th century and other branches of industry in the 20th.[1]
Monuments
The Old Town Hall, the castles of Špilberk and Veveří and the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul date from the Gothic period; the city has more than 50 churches.[1] Villa Tugendhat in Černá Pole was built in 1929–1930 to a design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat, who had to leave it in 1938. The agreement on the division of Czechoslovakia was signed there in 1993. The villa is a national cultural monument, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001 and has been managed by the Brno City Museum since 1994.[6]
Institutions
Brno is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, the Office for the Protection of Competition and the Office of the Public Defender of Rights. It is the country's second-largest centre of education. The Brno City Museum is based at Špilberk, and the Moravian Museum, the Technical Museum and the Moravian Library are also located here. The Brno Philharmonic is based in the Besední dům. At the Brno Exhibition Centre the company Veletrhy Brno holds international trade fairs.[1]
Chronology
- — Police in Brno caught one of two prisoners who escaped from an unguarded workplace; the search for the other continues. Novinky.cz Deník: Jihomoravský kraj
- — Brno chose the design of a memorial plaque for the 1,107 people buried in a mass grave at the Central Cemetery, among them victims of the communist regime; according to the city hall the corten steel plaque, designed by sculptor Dušan Váňa, is to be installed by the end of the year. → Deník: Jihomoravský kraj Novinky.cz