Monday, July 13, 2009

Checking Out the Sights

Brno is the capital of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The city contains many squares so on Sunday I decided to start with Moravské náměstí (Moravian Square). Moravské náměstí is on the northeast outskirts of the city center. There are a couple of parks. One has a Red Army memorial for the Soviet soldiers who liberated the city from the Germans during WWII. The other is just your basic park with a fountain and some modern art. All of the day's pictures, with descriptions, are on Flickr, so look to the right of the blog.
Moravské náměstí is where you’ll also find St. Thomas Church. A one-time Augustinian monastery, founded in 1350, it was damaged during the Thirty Years’ War. The new Baroque structure was built from 1665-1675.

Next to St. Thomas Church is the Moravian Gallery. As you can see there is a lot of renovation work going on in the city; not to mention lots of road improvement projects.

Down the road at Jakubské náměstí (Jacob Square) is St. James Church, which was completed in 1592. This church is the most important Late Gothic building in Brno. The church tower rises over 92 meters (~302 feet). You can really see the church tower from Náměstí Svobody (Freedom Square).

Náměstí Svobodý is the biggest and oldest square in Brno. The origin dates back to the 13th century. The square has its original triangular shape. Many of the buildings were rebuilt, in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, in the neo-Renaissance style. The main attractions in the square are the baroque Plague Column, built to commemorate the dead & honor the saints who protected the living, which dates from 1679, and the House of the Four Titans.

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