Brno

Sister cities

• Kharkiv
• Daejeon

History

The Brno Basin has been inhabited since prehistoric times, as evidenced by a 2024 discovery of mammoth bones and prehistoric tools dating back 15,000 years. This aligns with the region's rich Paleolithic history, which includes nearby sites Dolní Věstonice and with traces of Neanderthal activity. The city's direct precursor was , a fortified Great Moravian hillfort near Brno-Líšeň inhabited from the Neolithic Age until the early 11th century. Serving as a strategic hub connecting the empire's center with regional ironworks, the settlement was destroyed by a catastrophic fire around the turn of the 10th century and its remnants are now a protected monument. In the early 11th century, Brno was established as the seat of a non-ruling prince from the House of Přemyslid, and it became one of the centres of Moravia, along with Olomouc and Znojmo. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas' Chronica Boemorum, dating to 1091, when 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, who came from the Přemyslids dynasty but was independent of the other two, and subordinate to the Bohemian ruler in Prague. The seats of these rulers and thus the "capitals" of these three 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 middle of the 17th century, political power was divided between Brno and Olomouc, with Znojmo playing a tertiary role. Olomouc had a larger population than Brno and was also the seat of the Diocese of Olomouc, the sole bishopric in Moravia until 1777. The Moravian Diet, the , and the convened in both cities. These assemblies made…

Geography

Brno is situated at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, located between the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Dyje–Svratka Valley in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic. The city is at the crossroads of ancient trade routes, which have linked northern and southern Europe since time immemorial. Brno is historically closely connected with Vienna, which lies to the south. The city is in diameter east to west with a total area of . and the fishpond . Brno has a moderate climate and moderate air quality. No severe weather events or disasters have been recorded. but near the −2.5 °C average temperature in January, the coldest month. It is classified as a humid continental climate (Dfb) in the updated classification, characterized by cold winters and warm to hot summers. A warming trend has been observed over the past two decades, and summer days with temperatures above are relatively common. The average temperature is , and the average annual precipitation is approximately with an average of 150 rainy days. Average annual sunshine hours are 1,771 hours, and the prevailing wind direction is northwest. |source 2 = Český hydrometeorologický ústav (ČHMU)}}