Brno ( , ; ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 390,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic after the capital, Prague, and one of the 100 largest cities of the EU. The Brno metropolitan area has almost 700,000 inhabitants.
Brno is the former capital city of Moravia and the political and cultural hub of 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 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 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 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.
Administrative divisions
Brno is divided into 29 self-governing boroughs, further sub-divided into 48 districts. The boroughs are:
Bohunice
Bosonohy
Bystrc
Centre
Černovice
Chrlice
Ivanovice
Jehnice
Jundrov
Kníničky
Kohoutovice
Komín
Královo Pole
Líšeň
Maloměřice-Obřany
Medlánky
North
Nový Lískovec
Ořešín
Řečkovice and Mokrá Hora
Slatina
South
Starý Lískovec
Tuřany
Útěchov
Vinohrady
Žabovřesky
Žebětín
Židenice
Names
The etymology of the name Brno is disputed. It might be derived from the Old Czech '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 .
Throughout its history, Brno's locals also referred to the town in other languages, including in German, ברין () in Yiddish, and in Latin. The city was also referred to as Brunn () 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.
History
The Brno basin has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but 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 the centres of Moravia along with Olomouc and Znojmo. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas' Chronica Boëmorum dated to the year 1091, when Bohemian king Vratislav II besieged his brother Conrad at Brno castle.