About Brno

Welcome to Brno!

Brno (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbr̩no]) is the capital of Moravia and the second largest city in the Czech Republic.

Brno is also the administrative center of the South Moravian Region and the Czech capital of judicial authority. The population of the city is about 405,000 while the population of the greater metropolitan area is about 730,000. Brno lies at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers and it is surrounded by hills from three sides; a significant part of the area of the city is forest, about 28%. The average temperature is 9.4 °C (49 °F) and the average annual precipitation is about 505 mm (19.88 in).

Brno is the seat of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, and the Ombudsman. Brno is also an important center of Czech higher education, with 26 faculties of 11 universities and about 80,000 students. Brno exhibition center is also a traditional site of large exhibitions and trade fairs. The city is also known for hosting big motorbike and other races on the Brno racing circuit and for an international firework competition Ignis brunensis.

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 the Brno Dam Lake. This castle is the site of a number of legends, as are many other places in Brno. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat which has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. One of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst.

Brno is also quickly becoming the Silicon Valley of the Czech Republic and the wider region. Two big and several smaller universities specializing in information technology gives Brno a large source of IT talents. Many companies have opened research and development facilities in Brno such as Red Hat. This attracts many foreign IT professionals who are contributing to the international environment and atmosphere.

Brno has a very active open and free software movement communities organizing variety of regular events such as OpenAlt Conference, DevConf.cz and one time hosting of GUADEC (2013) and Akademy (2014) conferences in the past. 

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Brno", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (view authors).