Old Town Hall

From Starobrněnská, Mečova runs left to abut the back wall of the Old Town Hall. At Mečova 5, about 5m up the wall, is what looks like the face of a man. The well-lubricated urban legend goes that a Brno councillor who plotted with the Hussites to surrender the town in 1424 was overheard by Borro, Emperor Sigismund's court clown, while a prisoner of the Hussites. Borro escaped and told the story, and the councillor was sealed alive in the wall.

The original, early-13th-century building, which became the Town hall in 1343, has been incorporated into today's structure. A peculiar sight by the entrance on Radnická is a Gothic portal with a crooked middle turret, made by Anton Pilgram in 1510. According to legend, he was not paid the agreed amount by the council and, in revenge, left the turret (above the statue of Righteousness) crooked.

The Town Hall tower, raised by 5m during repairs in 1905 so as not to disappear among the newly built houses around it, offers magnificent views. For another Kč30 you can also see the Town hall's interior, including the Crystal hall, Fresco hall and Treasury.

The building is full of oddities. Hanging from the ceiling at the entrance is the corpse of a legendary Brno dragon that terrorised the city's waterways. It is, in fact, an Amazon River crocodile, donated by Archprince Matyáš in 1608. Note also the Brno wheel, made by an enterprising cartwright from Lednice. In 1636 he bet a mate he could fell a tree, build a wheel and roll it 50km to Brno - all before dusk. He was successful, and the hastily made and quickly rolled wheel has been on display ever since. Unfortunately, someone started the dodgy rumour that the cartwright had received diabolic assistance, and he died penniless when his customers went elsewhere.