Zelný Trh

Zelný trh (the vegetable market) is an inside square in the city center. On Saturday morning, you will find the square filled with folks selling fruit, vegetables, spices and flowers. I’ve heard that the market is every day but I’ve only seen it on Saturdays.

In the center of the square is the Baroque Parnassus fountain built between 1690 and 1695. It represents three ancient empires – Babylonia, Persia and Greece. The basin is shaped like a four-leaf clover. From the center of it is a rocky cliff, dominated by the figure of Europa, resting triumphantly upon a defeated dragon. The figures on the three sides of the grotto represent the ancient empires of Babylon (a crown and a winged lion), Persia (a cornucopia) and Greece (a quiver full of arrows and a winged dragon). Inside the grotto, Hercules leads the defeated Cerberus out of the underworld. The fountain’s water is supplied by Brno’s oldest pipeline from the Svratka river.

The main building of the Moravian land Museum is the three-winged Dietrichstein Palace. It was built in 1614-1618 and is the largest of the Brno palaces. There are two permanent exhibitions covering paleontology and mineralogical aspects of Moravia and Silesia.

The Reduta Theater is the oldest theatre building in Central Europe. It was built at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1767, an eleven-year-old Mozart gave a concert here. Today the building is used by the Brno National Theater. I'll post pictures on Flickr later this week.