Step into the courtyard
Most visitors pass the building without entering, and it is the better part.
Harold — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ben Skála, Benfoto — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Palickap — CC BY 4.0 · Palickap — CC BY-SA 4.0
A square in old central Brno holding the New Town Hall, the Dominican monastery and the church of St Michael. The town hall is the important part: a seventeenth-century baroque palace turned into the seat of the city administration, whose inner courtyard with its arcaded galleries is normally open to the public and used for concerts and events in summer. That courtyard is among the finest architectural spaces in Brno, and most visitors pass it without going in. The adjoining church of St Michael is baroque of the same period, and the monastery has been a Dominican centre since the thirteenth century. The square itself is quiet and less crowded than nearby Freedom Square, with cafés and shade. Its value is as a short stop on an old-town route: step into the courtyard, look at the arcades, and move on. There are no tickets or hours for the square itself.
Most visitors pass the building without entering, and it is the better part.
The courtyard is used for concerts and events in the summer months.
Close by but less crowded, with cafés and shade.
Old central Brno, west of the vegetable market
Klein PalaceA mid-nineteenth-century palace on Náměstí Svobody, Brno's main square, built by2 minutes walk4.8
The Old Town HallThe oldest secular building in Brno, dating from the thirteenth century, and the2 minutes walk4.8
Holy Trinity Column, BrnoA baroque column on the vegetable market in old central Brno, raised in the earl3 minutes walk4.6
The Palace of the Noble LadiesA Baroque palace in central Brno, built in the seventeenth century to house the 3 minutes walk4.6
The Labyrinth under the Vegetable MarketA city beneath the city: the Vegetable Market, trading since the thirteenth cent3 minutes walk4.3The Old Town Hall is a fourteenth-century Gothic building near the vegetable market, with the famous carved portal and the hanging Brno dragon, and it is now a tourist site with a climbable tower. The New Town Hall is the baroque building on Dominican Square, and it is the city's working administrative seat today. The two are minutes apart.
Start at Freedom Square, then Dominican Square and the town hall courtyard, then the vegetable market and the Old Town Hall, then climb Petrov hill to the cathedral, and come down to St James's Square. The distances are short and the whole centre walks in two hours without entering a single museum.