1936 On the Continent

number of gardens and small parks in Brno, the streets of which are lined, too, with fine avenues of trees.
    At the same time Brno is a great educational centre, and it contains a university and four other institutions of university rank. Among other features of interest may be mentioned the Czech and German theatres, as well as many museums, amongst which the Anthropos occupies a unique place. In this building will be found admirably arranged collections containing relics of prehistoric man, many of which, dating back to the Stone Age, were discovered in the region round Brno itself.
Brno
    In taking a stroll through Brno you should begin at the railway station. Proceed from there along the busy thoroughfare known as Masarykova ulice and on the leftyou soon come to a small square with a fine view of the cathedral. Behind it is the Zelný trh, which I have already mentioned, with the fine Baroque fountain known as Parnassus. The Zeleny trh is the fruit market of Brno throughout the season, beginning at the end of spring with cherries which are followed by apricots and peaches, until in the autumn there is a plentiful supply of Moravian grapes. At the southern corner of the square is the Moravian Provincial Museum, which is worth visiting on account of its architecture, which bears traces of various periods, and also for its palaeontological and folklore collections. From the western part of the Zelný trh you can get back to St. Peter’s Cathedral, which was frequently demolished and restored. For, like many other structures in Brno, the cathedral suffered severely during the many wars which were waged here, and as a result of these numerous bombardments, nearly all the chief buildings in the city date from after the Thirty Years’ War, and hence in an architectural respect there is far more Baroque than Gothic or Renaissance.
    On the other side of the Zelný trh the Radnická ulice will bring us to another group of buildings from which the present Radnice or Town Hall of Brno has gradually been evolved. Its most attractive feature is the Gothic doorway and the Renaissance arcades in one of the courtyards. From the Town Hall we pass on the left to the Dominican Square with a fine monastery building, a chapel and also what is known as the “House of the Estates,” which is a specimen of late Renaissance and early Gothic. It has a very fine courtyard, and here, too, is the Church of the Archangel Michael with some handsome Baroque statues. The inner halls and apartments which were once used as Council chambers now serve as museums.
The Czech Bastille
    After passing through the three courtyards belonging to the “House of the Estates” we arrive in front of the Špilberk slopes. It now consists of a fine park, while the huge buildings of the stronghold on top have been transformed into a barracks. In former times this was one of the most formidable prisons in Europe which, for sheer horror, outstripped even the Tower of London or the Bastille. Here were successively incarcerated Czechnobles, Hungarian and Polish patriots, Italian carbonari and, in fact, all those who in the course of three centuries showed any signs of speaking or thinking freely. To-day the dungeons in which so many men were tortured in the cause of freedom can be inspected by the public.
    From here you can return to the city and see several other buildings of interest, such as St. Jacob’s Church, the Church of the Jesuits, and so on. But the charm of Brno is not only in its buildings, but, above all, in its parks, the Kolišt, Lužánky, Pisárky, which make life there so pleasant. Then there are the environs of Brno. Not far away from the city are some of those underground caves and rivers of which, as I previously mentioned, there are several in Czechoslovakia. No visitor to Brno should miss seeing this extraordinary sight. Through the rugged entrance you pass into a series of caverns full of strangely shaped and brightly coloured stalactites. In another cavern you can take a boat along an underground stream which flows from a rock, and elsewhere you will see a strange chasm at the bottom of which are two bright emerald pools. These were formerly inaccessible, but they can now be reached by an underground passage.
    Another noteworthy sight in the environs of Brno is the castle of the Counts of Kounic, which has a large picture gallery and a magnificent park and which is situated quite close to the place where Napoleon won the battle of