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86-603: The village of Úvaly is an administrative part of Valtice. Valtice is located about 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of Břeclav and 50 km (31 mi) south of Brno . It lies on the border with Austria and borders the Austrian municipality of Schrattenberg . Valtice lies in the Lower Morava Valley lowland. The highest point is the hill Chrastiny at 292 m (958 ft) above sea level. Valtice Castle, then part of Duchy of Austria and called Feldsberg,

172-547: A horsecar service started to operate in Brno, the first tram service in what would later become the Czech Republic. Gregor Mendel conducted his groundbreaking experiments in genetics while he was a monk at St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno in the 1850s. Around 1900 Brno, which consisted in administrative terms only of the central city area until 1918, had a predominantly German-speaking population (63%), as opposed to

258-612: A 2024 discovery of at least 3 three mammoths bones and prehistoric tools dating back 15,000 years. The town's direct predecessor was a fortified settlement of the Great Moravian Empire known as Staré Zámky , which was inhabited from the Neolithic Age until the early 11th century. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of a non-ruling prince from the House of Přemyslid , and Brno became one of

344-506: A brief tour of the city. In 2011, the city announced plans to build a metro system light rail system to alleviate overcrowding of trams and to reduce congestion on the surface. Railway transport began operating in the city in 1839 on the Brno–Vienna line, the first operating railway line in the modern-day Czech Republic. Today, Brno is a transnational railway hub, with nine stations for passenger traffic. The current main railway station

430-607: A college here and renovated the medieval church and hospital. After a fire damaged the original Mikulov Castle in 1719, the Dietrichstein family reconstructed the castle to its present appearance. After the Austro-Prussian War , Count Alajos Károlyi began work on a peace treaty in the town that led to the Treaty of Prague in 1866. The German population presented a majority until 1945. In 1890, it formed 98% of

516-569: A separate district, the Brno-City District , surrounded by the Brno-Country District . Brno is divided into 29 administrative divisions (city districts) and consists of 48 cadastral areas . The "Brno-City District" and "Brno-Country District" are not to be confused with the "city districts" of Brno. The city districts of Brno vary widely in their size by both population and area. The most populated city district of Brno

602-462: Is Brno-Centre , which has over 91,000 residents, and the least populated are Brno-Ořešín and Brno-Útěchov , with about 500 residents. By area, the largest district is Brno-Bystrc (27.24 square kilometres (10.52 sq mi)) and the smallest is Brno-Nový Lískovec (1.66 square kilometres (0.64 sq mi)). Brno is the home to the highest courts in the Czech judiciary . The Supreme Court

688-428: Is 9.4 °C (49 °F), the average annual precipitation is about 505 mm (19.88 in), the average number of precipitation days is 150, the average annual sunshine is 1,771 hours, and the prevailing wind direction is northwest. The weather box below shows average data between years 1961 and 1990. Its height above sea level varies from 190 m (623 ft) to 497 m (1,631 ft). The highest peak in

774-562: Is Janičův vrch, a flooded former sandstone quarry, which is protected as a nature monument and occasionally used for swimming. A deed that mentioned existence of Mikulov in 1173 is a hoax from the 14th century. The first trustworthy written mention of Mikulov is from 1249. It is a deed, issued by the Přemyslid margrave Ottokar II , who granted a castle and the surrounding area to the Austrian noble Henry I of Liechtenstein. In 1279, Mikulov

860-666: Is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic . It has about 7,600 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation . The name is derived from the personal name Mikul (an abbreviated form of Mikuláš, which is a Czech variant of Nicholas ). In the earliest times, the German name Nikolsburg prevailed, which

946-693: Is a unique slang that originated in Brno. The biggest festival in Brno is the fireworks competition festival, Ignis Brunensis (Latin for "Flame of Brno"), held annually in June, part of the "Brno – City in the Centre of Europe" festival. Ignis Brunensis is the biggest show of its kind in Central Europe, usually attracting 100,000–200,000 visitors to each display. Mikulov Mikulov ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈmɪkulof] ; German : Nikolsburg ; Yiddish : ניקאלשבורג , Nikolshburg )

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1032-721: Is also an international road transport crossroads. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city: the D1 leading to Ostrava and Prague , and the D2 leading to Bratislava . Not far from the city limits is the D52 motorway leading to Vienna . Another planned motorway, the D43 , will connect Brno to northwestern Moravia. The city is gradually building the large city ring road (road I/42). Several road tunnels have been built at Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky, and Královo pole, and more are planned. Due to

1118-501: Is also one long bikeway leading to Vienna , approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) long. Several hiking trails of the Czech Tourist Club also pass through Brno. The city spends about 30 million euro every year on culture. A vibrant university city with about 60,000 students, Brno is home to many museums, theatres and other cultural institutions, and also hosts a number of festivals and other cultural events. Since

1204-754: Is among the largest exhibition centres in Europe. The complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit , a tradition established in 1930, of which the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races. Another cultural tradition is an international fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis , which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to each display. The most visited sights of

1290-797: Is on Burešova Street, the Supreme Administrative Court is on Moravské náměstí (English: Moravian Square ), the Constitutional Court is on Joštova Street, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office of the Czech Republic is on Jezuitská street. According to the 2021 census, Brno had 398,510 inhabitants. The largest ethnic groups reported (without options to choose between) were Czechs (51.6%), Moravians (18.7%), Slovaks (1.5%), Ukrainians (0.9%), Vietnamese (0.4%), and Poles (0.2%). 23.7% of inhabitants did not write any nationality. In

1376-765: Is the Dietrichstein tomb . It was originally the Church of Saint Anne, built as a copy of the Holy House of Loreto in 1623–1656. In the mid-19th century, it was converted into the family tomb of the Dietrichstein family. Beginning in Mikulov, the Mikulov Wine Trail, measuring 62 km (39 mi), winds throughout the Mikulovská wine region and is a feature of wine tourism in the area. Mikulov

1462-474: Is the central hub of regional train services, used by about 50,000 passengers every day, with around 500 trains passing through. The station is operating at full capacity; the main station building is outdated and lacks sufficient operating capacity, but the construction of the new station has been postponed several times for various reasons. A referendum over whether to move the station was held on 7 and 8 October 2016, coinciding with regional elections . Brno

1548-518: Is the road border crossing Mikulov / Drasenhofen . The I/52 road is part of the European route E461 and is to be extended as the D52 motorway . The second main road in Mikulov is I/40, which splits from I/52 and connects Mikulov with Břeclav . Mikulov is located on the railway line Znojmo –Břeclav. The main sight is Mikulov Castle , which was originally built in the Romanesque style. At

1634-643: The Bohemian ruler in Prague . The seats of these rulers and thus the "capitals" of these territories were the castles and towns of Brno, Olomouc , and Znojmo . In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia . From then until the mid of the 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was divided between Brno and Olomouc, but Znojmo also played an important role. The Moravian Diet,

1720-571: The COVID-19 pandemic . The airport also serves as one of the two bases for police helicopters in the Czech Republic. The other airport, Medlánky Airport , is a small domestic airport serving mainly recreational activities such as flying hot air balloons , gliders or aircraft RC models . Cycling is widespread in Brno due to lowland nature of the landscape. Existing tracks for cycling and roller skating in 2011 totalled approximately 38 kilometres (24 mi), and are gradually being expanded. There

1806-537: The Czech Republic . Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 400,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after the capital, Prague , and one of the 100 largest cities of the European Union . The Brno metropolitan area has approximately 730,000 inhabitants. Brno is the former capital city of Moravia and the political and cultural hub of

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1892-503: The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic abolished Moravian autonomy and Brno thus ceased to be the capital of Moravia. Since then Moravia has been divided into administrative regions, with Brno the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region . In 1960s and 1970s, large panel housing estates were built in border districts, such as Bohunice, Líšeň, Bystrc and Vinohrady. During the communist era, most of

1978-670: The House of Liechtenstein gradually acquired the entire estate. During the Hussite Wars , the Liechtenstein were on the side of Sigismund . In 1426, the town was burned out by the Hussites . The town was again devastated by the troops of the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady in 1458 as well as in the Austrian–Hungarian War by the forces of King Matthias Corvinus in 1480. The renewal and prosperity occurred in

2064-628: The Lower Morava Valley on the east and into the Dyje–Svratka Valley on the west. The highest point is the hill Turold at 385 m (1,263 ft). Most of the municipal territory lies within the Pálava Protected Landscape Area . The Mušlovský and Včelínek streams flow through the territory and supply a set of ponds, the largest of which are Nový (with an area of 31 ha (77 acres)) and Šibeník (with an area of 23 ha (57 acres)). Another notable body of water

2150-519: The Old Czech brnie 'muddy, swampy.' Alternative derivations are a Slavic verb brniti (to armour or to fortify) or a Celtic language spoken in the area before it was inhabited by Germanic peoples and later Slavic peoples . The latter theory would make it cognate with other Celtic words for hill, such as the Welsh word bryn . Throughout its history, Brno's locals also referred to

2236-622: The Thirty Years' War , Franz von Dietrichstein signed the Treaty of Nikolsburg with the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen at Mikulov Castle . Mikulov Castle became the place for many political meetings of important personalities, e.g. Albrecht von Wallenstein , Emperor Ferdinand II and Napoleon . A significant moment in the history of the town was the invitation of the Piarists by Franz von Dietrichstein. They established

2322-607: The UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2001. One of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst . The city is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and was designated a " City of Music " in 2017. Brno is divided into 29 city districts, further sub-divided into 48 administrative parts. The districts are: The etymology of the name Brno is disputed. It might be derived from

2408-672: 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 Moravian Land Tables , thus they were the two most important cities in Moravia. From the mid 14th century to the early 15th century, Špilberk Castle had served as

2494-430: The 16th century and rebuilt as Baroque after a 1719 fire, is the only preserved synagogue in Moravia of the so-called Polish type. It houses an exposition on Rabbi Loew and Jewish education in Moravia. The large Jewish cemetery, one of the most significant in the country, was founded in the mid-15th century. It contains around 4,000 tombs, with the oldest preserved readable tomb dating from 1605. Another important sight

2580-616: The 1938 Munich Agreement and incorporated into the Reichsgau Niederdonau . After World War II the remaining German population was expelled and the castle was confiscated by the Czechoslovak government; all claims for restitution have been rejected. Valtice lies in the centre of Mikulovská wine subregion. The town is known as a centre of wine making in Moravia . Both the National Wine Centre and

2666-638: The 1990s Brno has experienced a great cultural "rebirth": façades of historical monuments are being repaired and various exhibitions, shows, etc., are being established or extended. In 2007 a summit of 15 presidents of EU Member States was held in Brno. Despite its urban character, some of the city districts still preserve traditional Moravian folklore, including folk festivals with traditional Moravian costumes, Moravian wines, folk music and dances. Unlike smaller municipalities, in Brno annual traditional Moravian folk festivals are held in several city districts, including Židenice , Líšeň , and Ivanovice . Hantec

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2752-613: The 2001 census, when the most common nationalities were list to choose between, 76.1% were Czechs and 18.7% Moravians (94.8% Czechs in the broader sense). Brno experienced its largest increases in population during the 19th century at the time of the Industrial Revolution , and in 1919 due to a merger with surrounding municipalities. Since 1990, many companies created or spun off as part of privatization from former national enterprises have disappeared. Before 1990, engineering companies were very important in Brno; since then,

2838-705: The Environment). The city cultivates this sector via supporting organisations such as the South Moravian Innovation Centre and the VUT Technology Incubator. Public transport in Brno consists of 12 tram lines, 14 trolleybus lines (the largest trolleybus network in the Czech Republic) and almost 40 day and 11 night bus lines. Trams (known locally as šaliny ) first appeared on the streets in 1869; this

2924-602: The German-speaking majority of close to 55,000 by the addition of the Czech communities of the city's neighborhood. Included in the German-speaking group were almost all of the 12,000 Jewish inhabitants, including several of the city's better known personalities, who made a substantial contribution to the city's cultural life. Greater Brno was almost seven times larger, with a population of about 222,000 – before that Brno had about 130,000 inhabitants. In 1921–1928, Brno

3010-521: The Holocaust . On 15 April 1945, 21 Hungarian Jewish prisoners working in a clay pit were massacred. Mikulov is a centre of Czech wine-making due to its favorable geographic location and climate, as well as its unique history. Mikulov is the centre and the namesake of the Moravian wine sub-region called the Mikulovská wine region . Twelve registered cadastral vineyard tracts are situated within

3096-645: The Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape located in Valtice are the castle surrounded by an English park with a colonnade in the Neoclassical style , and the Temple of Diana from 1812 designed by Joseph Hardtmuth . Brno Brno ( / ˈ b ɜːr n oʊ / BUR -noh , Czech: [ˈbr̩no] ; German : Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of

3182-486: The Mikulov wine village as defined under the Czech Viticulture Act. The largest employer with headquarters in Mikulov is Gebauer a Griller Kabeltechnik, a manufacturer of electric wires and cables. The company employs more than 1,000 people. The second notable industrial company is Copeland Czech, a manufacturer of piston compressors and condensing units with more than 250 employees. In the south, there

3268-611: The Moravian Land Tables, and the Moravian Land Court were all seated in both cities at once. However, Brno was the official seat of the Moravian Margraves (rulers of Moravia), and later its geographical position closer to Vienna also became important. Otherwise, until 1642 Olomouc had a larger population than Brno, and was the seat of the only Roman Catholic diocese in Moravia. In 1243

3354-648: The Nazis, including those in Brno. The Faculty of Law became the headquarters of the Gestapo , and the university hall of residence was used as a prison. About 35,000 Czechs and some American and British prisoners of war were imprisoned and tortured there; about 800 civilians were executed or died. Executions were public. The Nazis also operated a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp , which held mostly Polish prisoners, an internment camp for Romani people in

3440-818: The South Moravian Region. It is the centre of the Czech judiciary , with the seats of the Constitutional Court , the Supreme Court , the Supreme Administrative Court , and the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, and a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman , and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of higher education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13  institutes of higher education and about 62,000 students. Brno Exhibition Centre

3526-616: The Thirty Years' War. In the first half of the 18th century, the congregation in Nikolsburg totalled over 600 families, comprising the largest Jewish settlement in Moravia. The census decreed by Empress Maria Theresa in 1754 ascertained that there were some 620 families established in Nikolsburg (i.e. the Jewish population of about 3000 comprised half of the town's inhabitants). Only a small number of Jews could make their living in

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3612-622: The Veverka, Ponávka, and Říčka. The Svratka River flows through the city for about 29 km (18 mi), and the Svitava River cuts a 13 km (8 mi) path through the city. Brno is situated at the crossroads of ancient trade routes which have joined northern and southern European civilizations for centuries, and is a part of the Danube basin region. The city is historically connected with Vienna, which lies 110 km (68 mi) to

3698-405: The Wine Salon of the Czech Republic reside in the Valtice Château. The I/40 road from Břeclav to Mikulov passes through the town. Valtice is located on the Břeclav– Znojmo railway line. It is served by two stations and stops: Valtice and Valtice město . The annual Valtice Wine Market wine exhibition is held in the château riding hall at the beginning of May. Valtice contains one of

3784-402: The area of the city is forest, 28% of the total. Due to its location between the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Southern Moravian lowlands (Dyje-Svratka Vale) , Brno has a moderate climate. Compared to other cities in the country, Brno has a very high air quality, which is ensured by a good natural circulation of air; no severe storms or similar natural disasters have ever been recorded in

3870-435: The battle is also known as the "Battle of the Three Emperors". Brno itself was not involved with the battle, but the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte spent several nights here at that time, and again in 1809. In 1839 the first train arrived in Brno from Vienna; this was the beginning of rail transport in what is now the Czech Republic . In the years 1859–1864 the city fortifications were almost completely removed. In 1869

3956-421: The centres of Moravia along with Olomouc and Znojmo . Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas' Chronica Boemorum dated to the year 1091, when Bohemian king Vratislaus II besieged his brother Conrad at Brno castle. In the mid 11th century, Moravia was divided into three separate territories; each had its own ruler, coming from the Přemyslids dynasty, but independent of the other two, and subordinate only to

4042-405: The city include the Špilberk Castle and fortress and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul on Petrov hill, two medieval buildings that dominate the cityscape and are often depicted as its traditional symbols . The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by Brno Reservoir . Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat , which was added to

4128-424: The city's economy has largely reoriented itself towards light industry, logistics, and services. The city later gained importance in other fields of engineering , especially in software development . After 2000, foreign technology companies began establishing their branches in Brno, and many Czech companies with local or global reach were also founded here. Companies operating in Brno include Gen Digital (one of

4214-412: The city's occupation by the Red Army on 26 April 1945 and the end of the war , ethnic German residents were expelled . In the Brno death march , beginning on 31 May 1945, about 27,000 German inhabitants of Brno were marched 64 kilometres (40 miles) to the Austrian border. According to testimony collected by German sources, about 5,200 of them died during the march. Later estimates by Czech sources put

4300-454: The city, and a forced labour "education" camp in the present-day district of Dvorska. Between 1941 and 1942, transports from Brno deported 10,081 Jews to Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp . At least another 960 people, mostly of mixed race , followed in 1943 and 1944. After Terezín, many of them were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp , Minsk Ghetto , Rejowiec and other ghettos and concentration camps . Although Terezín

4386-493: The city. Under the Köppen climate classification , Brno has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ) for −3 °C original isoterm, but near of the (−2.5 °C average temperature in January, month most cold) or include by updated classification in humid continental climate ( Dfb ) with cold winters and warm to hot summers. However, in the last 20 years the temperature has increased, and summer days with temperature above 30 °C (86 °F) are quite common. The average temperature

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4472-406: The command of Gabriel Bethlen in 1619, by the troops of Henri Duval Dampierre in the same year, and later conquered by Swedish forces under General Lennart Torstensson . After the war, the town became the principal seat of the Liechtensteins. Prince Karl Eusebius had rebuilt the castle and had built a new parish church, finished in 1671. He also issued an order to establish forests east from

4558-422: The congestion in private transport, the city is continuing to try to build more parking ramps , including underground, but these efforts have not always been successful. Air transport is enabled by two functional airports. The public international airport, Brno-Tuřany Airport , saw a sharp increase in passenger traffic up to 2011, however the number of passengers declined in the following years, especially during

4644-435: The death toll at about 1,700, with most deaths due to an epidemic of shigellosis . After the reestablishment of an independent Czechoslovak state after World War II , Prime Minister Edvard Beneš delivered a speech in Brno demanding the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia . Shortly afterwards, 20,000 ethnic Germans from the city were expelled into Allied-occupied Austria . After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état ,

4730-406: The end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Brno retained its status as the sole capital. This was later confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II in 1782, and again in 1849 by the Moravian constitution. Today, the Moravian Land Tables are stored in the Moravian Regional Archive , and are included among the national cultural sights of the Czech Republic. During the 17th century Špilberk Castle

4816-403: The first half of the 16th century, during the rule of Hartman I of Liechtenstein. In the mid 16th century, the citizens converted to Protestantism ; however they were subjected to the measures of the Counter-Reformation under the rule of Karl I of Liechtenstein , who himself had converted to Catholicism in 1599. During the Thirty Years' War , the town was again plundered by the troops under

4902-571: The headquarters, brand AVG Technologies still used), Kyndryl (Client Innovation Centre), AT&T , Honeywell (Global Design Center), Siemens , Red Hat (Czech headquarters), an office of Zebra Technologies , and formerly Silicon Graphics International (Czech headquarters). In recent years, the quaternary sector of the economy, i.e., activities in science, research, and education, has also begun to develop in Brno. Examples include AdMaS (Advanced Materials, Structures, and Technologies) or CETOCOEN (Center for Research on Toxic Substances in

4988-411: 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, 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

5074-402: The mayor's insignia and represents the city externally. As of 2021, the lord mayor is Markéta Vaňková of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). The executive body is the city council and local councils of the city districts; the city council has 11 members including the lord mayor and her four deputies. The assembly of the city elects the lord mayor and other members of the city council, establishes

5160-434: The most impressive Baroque residences of Central Europe . It was designed as the seat of the ruling princes of Liechtenstein by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early 18th century. Together with the neighbouring manor of Lednice , to which it is connected by a 7 km (4 mi) long lime-tree avenue, Valtice forms the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The main features of

5246-407: The most significant houses is the U Rytířů House decorated with sgraffito . In the middle of the square is a fountain from around 1700 and monumental Baroque Holy Trinity Column from 1723–1724. In Mikulov there are several historic churches. The originally Romanesque Church of St. Wenceslaus was built in the early 15th century and includes an ossuary . The Baroque Church of St. John the Baptist

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5332-401: The municipal area is the Kopeček Hill (479 m (1,572 ft)), and the highest point overall lies in Útěchov on the border with the municipality of Vranov . Legally, Brno is a statutory city , consisting of 29 administrative divisions known as city districts. The highest body of self-government is the Brno City Assembly. The city is headed by the lord mayor , who has the right to use

5418-478: The permanent seat of the Margraves of Moravia; one of them was elected the King of the Romans . Brno was besieged in 1428 and again in 1430 by the Hussites during the Hussite Wars . Both attempts to conquer the city failed. In 1641, during the Thirty Years' War , the Holy Roman Emperor and Margrave of Moravia Ferdinand III ordered the permanent relocation of the diet, court, and the land tables from Olomouc to Brno, as Olomouc's Collegium Nordicum made it one of

5504-431: The population and in 1930 formed 82% of the population. Following World War II, the town's German population was expelled by the Czechoslovak government, according to the Beneš decrees . The beginning of the Jewish settlement in Nikolsburg dates as far back as 1421, when Jews were expelled from Vienna and the neighboring province of Lower Austria by the duke of Austria, Albert II of Germany . The refugees settled in

5590-413: The primary targets of Swedish armies. In 1642 Olomouc surrendered to the Swedish Army , which occupied it for eight years. Meanwhile, Brno, as the only Moravian city which, under the leadership of Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches , succeeded in defending itself from the Swedes under General Lennart Torstenson during the siege of Brno in 1645, served as the sole capital of the Margraviate of Moravia. After

5676-400: The proprietary possession of the Dietrichstein family and its Mensdorff-Pouilly successors. After 1575, the Renaissance reconstruction of the town began. During the rule of Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein , the town was transformed into a representative economic, architectural, and cultural residence, and for a time it became one of the most important towns in Moravia . In 1621, during

5762-432: The seat of the regional rabbi of Moravia , thus becoming a cultural centre of Moravian Jewry. The famous rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel , who is said to have created the golem of Prague , officiated here for twenty years as the second regional rabbi between 1553 and 1573. Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein , son of Adam von Dietrichstein, was a special protector of the Jews, whose taxes were considered necessary to finance

5848-428: The small settlements grouped together to form one fortified settlement, and Brno was granted city royal privileges by the King, and thus recognized as a royal city. As throughout Eastern Central Europe, the granting of city privileges was connected with immigration from German-speaking lands . In 1324 Queen Elisabeth Richeza of Poland founded the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady , which now houses her grave. In

5934-401: The south. Brno is 21.5 km (13.4 mi) across, measured from east to west, and its total area is 230 km (89 sq mi). Within the city limits are the Brno Reservoir , several ponds, and other standing bodies of water, such as the reservoirs in the Marian Valley and the Žebětín Pond. Brno is surrounded by wooded hills on three sides; about 6,379 ha (15,763 acres) of

6020-406: The suburbs, which were predominantly Czech-speaking. Life in the city was therefore bilingual, and what was called in German "Brünnerisch" was a mixed idiom containing elements from both languages. In 1919, after World War I , two neighbouring towns, Královo Pole and Husovice, and 21 other municipalities were annexed to Brno, creating Greater Brno ( Czech : Velké Brno ). This was done to dilute

6106-467: The town as artisans; the rest had to become merchants. The congregation suffered severely during the Silesian Wars between 1740 and 1763, when they had to furnish the monarchy with their share in the supertaxes exacted by the government of Maria Theresa from the Jews of Moravia. Quite a number of Nikolsburg Jews continued to earn their livelihood in Vienna, where they were permitted to stay for some time on special passports. The freedom of residence, which

6192-742: The town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין ( Brin ) in Yiddish , and Bruna in Latin . The city was also referred to as Brunn ( / b r ʌ n / ) in English, but that usage is not common today. The asteroid 2889 Brno was named after the city, as was the Bren light machine gun (from Brno and Enfield ), which was widely used in World War II . The Brno basin has been inhabited since prehistoric times , as seen in

6278-512: The town situated close to the Austrian border, some 85 kilometres (53 miles) from the Austrian capital, under the protection of the princes of Liechtenstein. Additional settlers were brought after the expulsion of the Jews from the Moravian royal boroughs by King Ladislaus the Posthumous after 1454. The settlement grew in importance, and in the first half of the 16th century, Nikolsburg became

6364-518: The town. His descendants continued his work. His son and later his nephew had extended the castle and had the monastery of the Brothers Hospitallers built. The overall appearance of the town changed greatly between 1648 and 1781. Until the end of World War I , the town belonged to Lower Austria . According to the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , the town and its surroundings were annexed by newly established Czechoslovakia and

6450-596: The turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and again in the late 17th century in the Baroque style. The last major reconstruction was made after a fire in 1719. Today it is the seat of the Regional Museum in Mikulov. The historic town square was founded in the late 16th century near the castle. It contains Renaissance houses from the first half of the 17th century. One of

6536-539: The workforce was employed in industry, mainly machinery. After 1989, part of the workforce switched from industry to services, and Brno became the IT centre of the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, new industrial zones were built at the edge of the city, such as Černovická terasa in the east of the city. Brno is located in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic, at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, and there are also several brooks flowing through it, including

6622-771: Was conceded to the Jews in Austria in 1848, reduced the number of resident Jews in Nikolsburg to less than one-third of the population it contained at the time of its highest development. In 1904, there were 749 Jewish residents in the town, out of a total population of 8,192. In 1938, prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia , the town population totaled about 8,000 mostly German-speaking inhabitants. Out of these, 472 were Jewish. The Jewish settlement in Nikolsbgurg ceased to exist during World War II, as only 110 managed to emigrate in time, and 327 of Mikulov's Jews did not survive

6708-618: Was consecrated in 1679 and belonged to the Piarist College. The interior was decorated by painter Franz Anton Maulbertsch . The neo-Gothic Orthodox Church of St. Nicolas was built in 1903. On Svatý Kopeček Hill, there is the Chapel of St. Sebastian. The path to the chapel is lined by Stations of the Cross . The history of the Jewish community can be observed by a trail through the old Jewish quarter . The synagogue, originally built in

6794-543: Was given market rights . In 1526, the Anabaptist leader Balthasar Hubmaier came from Switzerland to Mikulov, where he was captured and arrested by the forces of King Ferdinand I the following year. The Liechtenstein family owned the estate until 1560. In 1572, Emperor Maximilian II granted the fief to his ambassador to the Spanish court, Adam of Dietrichstein. From 1575 until the 20th century, Mikulov remained

6880-562: Was not an extermination camp , 995 people transported from Brno died there. Only 1,033 people returned after the war. Industrial facilities such as the Československá zbrojovka arms factory and the Zweigwerk aircraft engine factory (which became Zbrojovka's subsidiary Zetor after the war) and the city centre were targeted by several Allied bombardment campaigns between 1944 and 1945. The air strikes and later artillery fire killed some 1,200 people and destroyed 1,278 buildings. After

6966-474: Was probably founded in the 11th century. The first written mention of the village of Feldsberg is in a 1192 deed (as Veldesperch ); held by the Lords of Seefeld , it was located close to the border with Moravia . Probably between 1192 and 1227, Feldsberg became a town. In 1270, lords of Seefeld died out and the estate, divided into six parts with different owners, changed hands several times. Between 1387 and 1395,

7052-635: Was rebuilt as a huge baroque citadel . Brno was besieged by the Prussian Army in 1742 under the leadership of Frederick the Great , but the siege was ultimately unsuccessful. In 1777 the bishopric of Brno was established by the Catholic Church ; Mathias Franz Graf von Chorinsky Freiherr von Ledske was the first Bishop. In December 1805 the Battle of Austerlitz was fought near the city;

7138-412: Was renamed Valtice. The main reason was the requirement that the entire Znojmo–Břeclav railway line, a branch of the former Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway , remain inside Czechoslovak territory. The Liechtenstein princely family lost its privileges with the collapse of Austria-Hungary . Valtice served as the Liechtenstein's residence continuously until 1939. The town was occupied by Nazi Germany upon

7224-515: Was the capital of the administrative region of Land of Moravia (Czech: Země Moravská ). In 1928–1948, Brno was the capital of the Land of Moravia-Silesia (Czech: Země Moravskoslezská ). In 1930, 200,000 inhabitants declared themselves to be of Czech, and some 52,000 of German nationality, in both cases including the respective Jewish citizens. During the German occupation of the Czech lands between 1939 and 1945, all Czech universities were closed by

7310-580: Was the first operation of horse-drawn trams in the modern-day Czech Republic. The local public transport system is interconnected with regional public transport in one integrated system (IDS JMK), and directly connects several nearby municipalities with the city. Its main operator is the Brno City Transport Company (DPmB), which also operates a mostly recreational ferry route at the Brno Dam Lake . A tourist minibus provides

7396-471: Was then Czechized as Nyklspurg and Nyklšpurk. The name Mikulov has been used since the 19th century. Mikulov is located about 18 kilometres (11 mi) northwest of Břeclav and 42 km (26 mi) south of Brno , on the border with Austria. It borders the Austrian municipality of Drasenhofen . Mikulov lies mostly in the Mikulov Highlands , but the municipal territory also extends into

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