Swobodin v Brně

Take an overview look with my video at youtube, don’t forget to turn sound on …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXdNRJD-yg8

 

 

The Old Town Hall is the oldest secular building in Brno. The historical centre of this building was established around the year 1240. It served as a town hall from 1373 to 1935. The main portal of the passage dates back to the late Gothic period; the Renaissance-style additions to the building with arcades and other modifications are the results of early-Baroque reconstruction. The whole complex served the needs of the city council, which held its meetings there; court proceedings took place there, the city clerk had his office there, money, documents and forfeits were deposited. Of course, a city prison could not be missed out, which was in the rear wing of the town hall premises.
 
Legend of the Crooked Turret

 

 

Brno councillors decided to have a dignified portal built on the occasion of the construction of the Old Town Hall. They commissioned a master of his craft, Antonín Pilgram, who had studied under the Prague stone masters. Pilgram was promised with a handsome reward. In the end, the councillors did not pay him for his work, so he built the central tower in the portal so as to be crooked. The tower is just as “straight” as the councillors were!
 
Legend of the Brno Dragon

 

 

Once upon a time, a huge dragon appeared in Brno. He ate poultry and strangled lambs, and people were very scared of him. Merchants started to stay out of the city, women could not go to the market. Councillors racked their brains as to how to get rid of him, and in the end announced a reward for the killing of the dragon. However, for a long time, nobody was brave enough to face such a monster. One day, a travelling butcher volunteered to try. He sewed up burnt lime into an ox skin, and hid it in the grass. The dragon smelled the ox skin, and ate the whole lot. This made him very thirsty, so he went to the river and drank so much water that the lime began to expand, and in the end his stomach burst out. People took the dragon into the city, had it stuffed, and then hung it in the Old Town Hall passage.
 
The Legend of the Brno Wheel

 

 

A man named Jiří Birk lived in a town in South Moravia called Lednice around the year 1636. One evening, while drinking in a pub, he bet with his friends that in twelve hours he could cut down a tree, make a carriage wheel and roll it to Brno. The bet was sealed; of course, he now had to carry it out. In the morning Birk, amidst much cursing, set to work, and at noon the wheel was finished. The wheelwright thought that rolling the wheel to Brno would be very easy. He was much mistaken. The route seemed endless; nevertheless, the idea of his friends laughing at him drove him on. With the very last of his strength he rolled the wheel into the town hall, asked the portreeve to issue the confirmation, and returned home. He won the bet, and the wheel is still hanging in the town hall passage today.
 
Text source: http://www.ticbrno.cz/pamatky.php

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 1:26 pm and is filed under General, History, Brno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.