Brno City Museum: 50

From its headquarters at Špilberk Castle, Brno City Museum documents the history of Brno, from its earliest origins to the present day. Its famously diverse collections encompass more than 400,000 items, including more than 25,000 works of fine art, alongside archaeological and historical artefacts, and materials relating to architecture.

This curated selection of 50 works, each strikingly illustrated, represents the breadth of the institution’s collections in a clear, accessible guide. Four thematic, colour-coded chapters celebrate intriguing objects from the Museum’s various collections, from Gallery (blue) to Architecture (green), History (red) to Archaeology (brown). In addition to Špilberk Castle, where its main exhibition rooms are located, the Brno City Museum oversees Villa Tugendhat, Villa Arnold, Villa Wittal and the Měnín Gate, all of which hold further exhibitions.

Brno City Museum: 50 is the inaugural volume in Kulturalis’s vibrant new series – Numbers – which showcases highlights from a collection based on a number chosen to reflect an anniversary or other special significance.

Director of Brno City Museum since 2021, Mgr. Zbyněk Šolc previously worked as the head of the National Centre of Theatre and Dance at Valtice Château, where he dealt with cultural management, tourism and heritage conservation as part of the National Heritage Institute. He has been active in local politics for 20 years, during which he spent four years as the first Deputy Mayor of the Borough of Brno-Královo Pole. From 2021 to 2025 Zbyněk Šolc served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Czech Republic’s Association of High School Clubs, which manages leisure activities for young people. He studied sociology and international relations at Masaryk University Brno and media and mass communications at the Jan Amos Comenius Academy in Prague. He has also studied in the USA and worked on European Union projects.