Brno (population 390,000; German Brünn) is the second-largest city of the Czech Republic, located in the southeast of the country, at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers. Brno was founded in 1243. It was used as a stronghold until the 19th century. The city is a political and a cultural hub of the South Moravian Region (population 1,124,493). Brno is a university town.
Soon after the industrial revolution, the city became one of the industrial centres of Austria. Since the end of the First World War, Brno has belonged to Czechoslovakia and then to the independent Czech Republic. Sometimes it is called the Czech Manchester, because even nowadays there are several world-wide known factories.
Villa Tugendhat, built by Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s close to the centre of the city, is known as a monument of modern architecture, and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 20022002 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). 2002 was the first palindromic year since 1991 and the last until 2112. 2002 was also designated: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains National Science Year in the United Kingdom.
Spilberk , the castle of Brno, was founded in the middle of the 13th century by Premysl Otakar II, the Czech king. The castle became a seat of Moravian margraves. During centuries, Spilberk turned into a huge fortress, known as "dungeon of the nations". Today, Spilberk houses the Brno City Museum.
The famous Masaryk CircuitMasaryk circuit (Masarykuv okruh is the most famous Czech racing circuit. It's used mainly for motorbike races. It has been built in the 80s near Brno. Every year takes here place Grand Prix of the Czech Republic as a part of World Championship. This occa is located in the northwest of the town.
The unique dialectA dialect is a variant, or variety, of a language spoken in a certain geographical area. The number of speakers, and the area itself, can be of arbitrary size. It follows that a dialect for a larger area can contain plenty of (sub-) dialects, which in tur spoken in Brno is called HantecHantec is a unique dialect spoken by the people of Brno..
In 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep, Brno hosted the Central European Olympiad in InformaticsThe Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI is an annual informatics competition for secondary school students. Each of the parcitipating central european countries (plus one or two guest countries, and a local team from the host area) sends a team (CEOI).
1 Famous people associated with Brno
2 External links
