Old Town Hall in Brno

Old Town Hall in Brno

Crocodile or dragon? The Old Town Hall in Brno

The Brno Dragon and Brno Wheel are well-known symbols of the city and are linked with several legends. You can only see them with your own eyes in the building of the former Town Hall in the Moravian Capital near to Zelný trh. It will surprise you to learn that it was a crocodile which the people of Brno thought to be a fairytale dragon. The Gothic gateway, which you enter the building by, is also worthy of your attention. It is as if the famous builder Anton Pilgram was making fun of Gothic art by allowing the decorated middle turret (technically an obelisk) to create the illusion of it falling on people passing underneath. Inside the building, you can visit a gallery and historical halls as well as climb the 63m tower with Renaissance roofs.
If you haven’t had enough of the city’s legends, notice the stone head on the front wall of the rear part of the City Hall. Allegedly it belonged to a walled-up councilman who was said to have planned to secretly let the Hussite troops into Brno on a night in July 1424. The planned conspiracy was, however, uncovered and the councilman was walled up alive as a warning to others.