Informations about Brno

Man has lived in the Brno basin since prehistoric times, and there was a settlement on the site of today's city at the time of the Great Moravian Empire. In around 1000 a settlement was established on a ford across the River Svratka, now known as Staré Brno (Old Brno), and it was this that gave the city its name. From the 11th century, Břetislav's castle stood here, and was the seat of the non-ruling Premyslid Prince. Around the castle several Czech market villages grew up, both in Old Brno and around Horní trh (today Zelný trh/Vegetable Market). Foreign colonists started to arrive from the 13th century: Germans, Flemish and Walloons, who settled around the Lower Square (today's Náměstí Svobody).
A Jewish quarter was also formed in the area that today forms the lower end of Masarykova Street. Legal support for the development of the city came with the large and small privileges that were conferred upon the city in 1243 by Václav I, King of Bohemia. The city was then surrounded by fortifications which had five gates (Měnín, Židovská (Jews' Gate), Starobrněnská (Old Brno Gate), Veselá (Merry Gate), and Běhounská). There were two parish churches - St. Peter's and St. James', and several monasteries: Benedictine in Komárov, Premonstrate in Zábrdovice, monasteries for mendicant orders such as the Dominicans, Minorites, Heburgs, Johannites in Old Brno, and a convent for Cistercian nuns also in Old Brno, which was founded by Queen Eliška Rejčka. The Špilberk castle was rebuilt in a Gothic style in the 13th century. In the 14th century the city became the seat of the Moravian Margraves, and underwent a period of great expansion; at this time there about 1000 buildings and 11 000 inhabitants. Thanks to the right that the city possessed of holding annual markets, international trade grew. This meant that in-depth knowledge of legal regulations had to be gained, and so in 1355 Jan, the town hall scribe, compiled a book of regulations for the city aldermen, which became the legal norm for several other cities ....

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