The surroundings of Brno were settled into, around 4000 BC, when the first agricultural colonies were founded.

In approximately 1020 AD Brno castle was built by Duke Bretislav and a small colony onthe bank of the river Svratka started to spread. In 1243 the villages of Brno wereunited and Brno got the royal town privileges. Famous Cistercian nunnery(monastery for nuns) was founded by Queen Eliska Rejcka. During the following centuries,the town was surrounded by fortifications and its importance rose. Brno became aprominent meeting point of three big trade-routes leading from Poland, Austria and Hungary.

In the Thirty Years War the city was besieged by Swedish forces, who did not manageto conquer the city. That big Swedish defeat prevented them from marching againstVienna and gave more time to create an Austrian offence and end the war promptly.

Following the war, the city became a forcible baroque fortress. In 1742, the Prussian armytried to capture the city but they also broke their teeth on it. Shortly after that thebishopric was established on the hill Petrov.

On December 2nd 1805, The Three Emperors’ Battle was fought in Austerlitz(Slavkov) near Brno. The Napoleon army defeated the Austrians and the Russians.

In the 19th century, the fortifications were demolished and the city enlarged inVienna`s architecture style. In this time, J.G.Mendel laid the foundations of geneticsat the monastery in Old Brno. During the First Republic (1918-1938), the university wasestablished and named after the first Czechoslovakian president T.G.Masaryk.

The second world war was devastating. The city was controlled by the Gestapo fromSpilberk and many citizens were murdered in Kounicova dormitories by SS troops.After the war, all german inhabitants were deported.

The next communist era brought economical stagnation. Fortunately the city waschanging into a lovely metropolis. Many finances were invested into science andeducation. In 2007 the University Campus for medical and natural sciences becamefunctional and by September 2010, it was officially completed and opened. Since then,Masaryk University has become the most modern university building in central Europe.