Cathedral of St Peter and Paul

Petrov

A Romanesque chapel stood on Petrov hill around 1140

The site has housed a church since at least the 11th and 12th centuries. A Romanesque chapel was built there in about 1140, during the reign of Margrave Conrad II. Its crypt now lies under the paving of the entrance to the current church.

Fires

Fires in 1306 and 1643 each ended an earlier church

A larger church of the 1230s was damaged in a large fire that swept through Brno in 1306. In 1643 a large fire started by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years War burnt the entire set of buildings on Petrov hill.

The diocese

In 1777 it became the seat of the new Diocese of Brno

In 1775 to 1777 the church became the seat of the new Diocese of Brno. The architect Mořic Grimm gave the interior a Baroque treatment that remains mostly intact today, and removed most of the Gothic elements.

The towers

August Kirstein designed the twin towers, built from 1901 to 1909

The Viennese architect August Kirstein designed the twin Gothic towers, built between 1901 and 1909. They give the church its present monumental character and rise 84 metres high.

84-metrethe height of the Gothic Revival towers

Eleven bells

The bells ring at eleven, not noon, to fool a besieging army

Traditionally the bells ring at 11 in the morning. According to legend, the Swedes besieging Brno promised to call off their attack if they had not taken the city by midday on the 15th of August, so citizens rang the bells an hour early.