Brno

Brno is the largest city of Moravia (and the second largest in the Czech Republic after Prague) with about 380,000 inhabitants.

It has its own Neolithic Venuses (in the quarter of Maloměřice) and, besides these Venuses, the city has other things that are worth mentioning.

view of Brno and the Pavlov Hills — A view of the city of Brno with the Pavlov Hills in the background. Click to enlarge.

the centre of Brno — The centre of Brno. Rašínova ulice (Rašín Street) and Náměstí Svobody (Liberty Square). Click to enlarge.

the so-called Brno Dragon — One of the symbols of the city, the Dragon of Brno. In fact it is a crocodile, which has been connected with Brno for hundreds of years. Click to enlarge.

The Venuses of Brno-Maloměřice

The Moravian Painted Ceramics (or Pottrery) Culture

The Venuses described below were discovered during works on Brno-Maloměřice railway station. The site where they were found is now a part of a marshalling yard.

a view of Brno from Hády — A view of Brno from the hill of Hády. Part of Maloměřice can be seen on the right side of the picture. Click to enlarge.

the Venus of Brno-Maloměřice 1 — The Venus of Brno-Maloměřice 1. Adapted from reference Podborský, Vladimír, 1985, page 75. Click to enlarge.

the Venus of Brno-Maloměřice 2 — The Venus of Brno-Maloměřice 2. Adapted from reference Podborský, Vladimír, 1985, page 77. Click to enlarge.

The Venuses of Brno-Maloměřice - basic information
Material	baked clay
Age	5,650-6,750 years

Brno and the Venus of Willendorf

It has been found out that the material which the Venus of Willendorf was made of almost certainly came from Stránská skála ( see references, Binsteiner, Alexander, 2014 ), which is a limestone hill with a cliff, situated in the eastern part of the city of Brno, and an important Palaeolithic archaeological site. So, it is quite possible that she was created in (what is now) Brno and then transported to Willendorf

Brno-Stránská skála — Brno, Stránská skála. Click to enlarge.

The Shaman of Brno and a rare a male figurine

An exceptional archaeological discovery was made at the crossroad of Francouzská and Přadlácká Streets, only a little more than one kilometre north-east of the city centre. It was a ritual burial of a man with grave goods resembling grave goods of recent shamans. That is why the buried man is often dubbed as the “Shaman of Brno”. Among the grave goods there was a unique male figurine, made of mammoth ivory. The figurine consists of several parts. There are drilled holes in the head and trunk of the figurine. It is the oldest known puppet (marionette) in the world. According to radiocarbon dating it is about 26,700 years old.

Brno and the origin of genetics

It was in Brno where genetics was born. Johann Gregor Mendel lived and carried out his experiments with peas there. Brno is home to Mendel museums in Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square) and in Biskupský dvůr.

In Brno, there are two Mendel museums. One is in the place where he lived and carried out his scientific work ( Mendelovo muzeum webpages are here) in Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square). The other one is called ‘Mendelianum, The Attractive World of Genetics’ ( Mendelianum, in Czech; some information available in English, the webpages are here) and is situated Biskupský dvůr (in Zelný trh Square)

Mendel was born in 1822 in Hynčice, now part of the village of Vražné (see here), about 100 km north-east of Brno.

Interestingly, close to J.G. Mendel’s birthplace (about 20 kilometres), there is the town of Příbor, the birthplace of Sigmund Freud (born in 1856) (see here). Both birthplaces are between Přerov (with the Venus of Předmostí) and Ostrava (with the Venus of Petřkovice).

Brno, Mendel Square — Brno, Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square).The monastery where J.G.Mendel performed the experiments with peas, which led him to the discovery of the three Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. There is the Mendel Museum there. Click to enlarge.

Brno, Mendel's Square — Brno, Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square). The Mendel statue in the monastery garden. Click to enlarge.

Brno, Mendelianum — Brno, Biskupský dvůr, the seat of the Centrum Mendelianum. Click to enlarge.

Ernst Mach – the velocity of sound and Einstein’s inspiration

Mach’s name is well-known from Mach number, the number which relates the velocity of an object with the velocity of sound, i.e. supersonic objects move with Mach number greater than 1.

Ernst Mach was an important source of inspiration for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. In principle, Mach proposed that inertial properties of a body depend on the distribution of matter in the whole universe. Einstein took the notion and changed it into the verified concept that “properties of space and time are determined by the distribution of matter and energy in the universe”. (see references: Ullman, Vojtěch, 1986)

Ernst Mach was born in Brno-Chrlice, in the southern outskirts of the city of Brno in 1838.

Brno-Chrlice, the birthplace of Ernst Mach — The birthplace of Ernst Mach in Brno-Chrlice. Click to enlarge.

Kurt Gödel

Kurt Gödel is another outstanding scientist born in Brno (in 1906). According to John David Barrow, an English cosmologist, physicist and mathematican, Kurt Gödel was "one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century and the most important logician since Aristotle" ( ref. Barrow, John D., 2011).

Camellia flowers and Brno

The Camellia flower was named after Georg Joseph Kamel (also known as Jiří Josef Kamel), who was born in Brno in 1661.

At this point, I cannot help mentioning that Brno is also the birthplace of my humble self.

Guide to the Lands of Venuses

Coming back to our deep roots

Places of Pre-Christian, Pagan cultures at the heart of Europe connected with female figurines