New Town Hall (Nová radnice)

You can find the predominantly Baroque New Town Hall (also with Gothic and Renaissance features) on Dominican Square.

When, in the last century, Brno’s civic authorities outgrew the space afforded by the Old Town Hall, they began looking around for a new and suitable home and chose the old Moravian Diet House on Dominican Square.

Its modification was entrusted to the architect Josef Polášek, who drew up a preliminary design for modifying the building according to the authorities’ requirements. Once the plans were approved, a period began of extensive reconstruction, culminating in the New Town Hall, completed in 1935.

The New Town Hall is today the showcase building of the City of Brno’s Mayor’s Office and of Brno’s local government, including the meeting halls of the representative assemblies. It is also home to several departments of the Brno City Municipality. On guided tours you can check out the Knights’ Hall and cloakroom, the Assembly Hall, and the newly renovated Brno City Council chamber.

In addition to numerous other priceless monuments, such as the Gothic cloister, the Renaissance staircase, sundial, historic portals, or the fountain with allegories of the twelve months, also worthy of attention are the two limestone balconies dating from 1733. Scanning the facade of the New Town Hall, these two features fix the gaze thanks to their extraordinary balustrades, created from sculpted human forms and eagles with outstretched wings. From the left-hand balcony spoke Adolf Hitler himself, who visited the Town Hall in 1939. In contrast, from the right-hand balcony a speech was given in 1996 by the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II.