Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic and the most important center in Moravia. It is a great base to explore this interesting region and at the same time has a lot to offer.
Brno received city rights in the 13th century, and under Przemysł II Otokar they were surrounded by defensive walls and a castle was built on the hill. Over the centuries, it was rebuilt several times and in the 17th century it was turned into a fortress. Castle buildings with a system of bastions, walls and moats have survived to this day, which for centuries constituted an impenetrable dam. Visiting Spilberk castle you can see, among others art collections, a restored chapel, a baroque pharmacy, casemates and a former prison. The tower offers a beautiful view of the city.
Below the castle stretches the Old Town with the towers of the Gothic cathedral of St. Piotr and Paweł. The central place of Brno is Wolności Square, where the historic town hall stands, which is a mix of different styles from Gothic to Baroque and a plague column from the 18th century. The underground of two churches, St. James and the Capuchin monastery. Under the first of them there is an ossuary, in which the remains of about 50 thousand are buried. people, under the other crypts, in which lie partly mummified corpses of monks buried here for centuries.
When in the eighteenth century Brno began to experience a period of great prosperity associated with the development of industry, many manufacturers came to the city. Soon they began building their headquarters, which have survived to this day as a complex of monumental, richly decorated palaces. However, not everyone liked the splendor. In the interwar period, the villa for the Jewish Tygendhat family was designed by the famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This simple, white building has become one of the symbols of modernism and has been inscribed on the UNESCO list.
