ISC 2012, Industrial Simulation Conference, June 4-6, 2012, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, Conference Venue

Conference Location

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District. The city lies at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers and has over 400,000 residents.

History

Although the Brno basin has been inhabited since prehistoric era, the direct predecessor of Brno, however, was a fortified settlement of the Great Moravia Empire known as Staré Zámky which was inhabited from the Neolithic Age to the early 11th century. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of non-ruling Princes from the House of Přemyslid, and Brno became one of the centres of Moravia along with Olomouc and Znojmo.

In the 11th century, a chapel was founded on Petrov hill, and since then, the chapel has undergone many changes which after centuries resulted in the current Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. The Spilberk Castle was founded in the 13th century, originally as the major royal castle in Moravia.

In 1243 Brno received the large and small city privileges from the King, and thus it was recognized as a royal city. In 1324 Queen Elisabeth Richeza of Poland (cz: Eliška Rejčka) founded the current Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady where is now her final resting place. In the 14th century, Brno became one of the centres for the Moravian regional assemblies, whose meetings alternated between Brno and Olomouc. These assemblies made political, legal, and financial decisions. Brno and Olomouc were also the seats of the Land Court and the Land Tables, thus they were the two most important cities in Moravia. From the mid of 14th century to the early 15th century the Spilberk Castle had served as the permanent seat of the Margraves of Moravia (Moravian rulers), one of them was elected the King of the Romans.

From the mid 11th century onwards, Moravia was divided into three separate territories; each one of them had its own ruler independent of the other two. Seats of these rulers and thus "capitals" of these territories were the castles/towns of Olomouc, Znojmo, and Brno. In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia. From that time until the mid 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was therefore "evenly" divided between Brno and Olomouc but Znojmo also played an important role.

The Moravian Diet (cz: zemský sněm), the Moravian Land Tables (cz: zemské desky), and the Moravian Supreme Court (cz: zemský soud) were all seated in both cities at once. Olomouc was the second largest city of the Czech Crown lands (after Prague), it was the seat of the only bishopric in Moravia (later the archbishopric), and since 1573 also of the only Moravian university. Brno was the seat of Moravian Margraves (rulers of Moravia), and later its closer geographic position to Vienna also became important for its future.

In 1641, in the midst of the Thirty Years' War, the Holy Roman Emperor and Margrave of Moravia Ferdinand III commanded the permanent relocation of the diet, court, and the land tables from Olomouc to Brno, as Olomouc's Collegium Nordicum made it one of the primary targets of Swedish armies. From 1642 to 1650 Olomouc was occupied by the Swedish army, which led to decline in population from over 30.000 people to mere 1.675 and total devastation of the city. Meanwhile Brno, as the only Moravian city which managed to defend itself, flourished.

1641 was also the year Brno became the only capital of Moravia. During the 17th century the Spilberk Castle was rebuild into a huge baroque citadel. In 1777 the Brno Bishopric was established. In 1839 the first train arrived to Brno from Vienna, this event was the beginning of rail transport in the today's Czech Republic. In the years 1859-1864 the city fortification was almost completely removed.

In 1869 a horse car service started to operate in Brno, it was the first tram service in today's Czech Republic. From that time onwards, the only capital city of Moravia was Brno, until 1948 when the communist government finally abolished Moravian autonomy. At the present, the Moravian Land Tables are stored in the Moravian Regional Archive, and rank among the national cultural sights of the Czech republic.

Conference Venue

The conference will be held at the
Faculty of Information Technology
BUT, Božetěchova 2,
612 66 Brno, Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 54114 1144
Fax: +420 54114 1270
Email: info@fit.vutbr.cz
The faculty itself is located in Kralovo Pole, location of the Cartesian monastery. See a history of the faculty buildings here. And a plan of the University is linked below under maps.

By Plane

When arriving by plane in the Czech Republic you will either arrive in Prague (most likely) at Prague International Airport by (Czech Airlines)for example. (A map of the airport and ATM machine location are linked here)
From there you can take a direct bus to Brno operated by Student Agency. You must change the bus at Florenc station in Prague.
Prague's public transport system offers the cheapest way to get from the airport to the centre and vice versa. Bus line 119 runs every 20 minutes between 4:00 and 24:00, leaving from a stop in front of the airport terminal and going as far as the Dejvicka Metro station. (Before you get on the bus, you have to buy a 12 Kc ticket, available from vending machines or newsagents at the airport.) At the Dejvicka station you transfer to the Metro system and travel to Prague main Railway station (Praha hlavní nádraží) and take the train from there to Brno (see below), or to the railway station Prague Holesovice, or to the central coach station at the Florenc Metro stop, depending on which means of transport you will be using to travel on to Brno.
An alternative way of getting to the city centre is by taxi. There are flat rates of 380 Kc to the Holesovice railway station, 560 Kc to the central bus station Florenc, and approximately 650 Kc to destinations in the centre of the city (where the Main Railway Station is situated).
Or you can fly straight to Brno International Airport with the following companies.
Ryanair flies 7 times a week to London-Stansted and 3 times a week to Bergamo, twice a week to Alicante. Wizzair flies to London-Luton 3 times a week, Rome twice a week and from December 2011 twice a week to Eindhoven. Czech Connect Airlines flies 4 times a week to Moscow and twice a week to Saint Petersburg. UTair flies three times a week to Moscow-Vnukovo. CCA flies once a day - Monday to Friday to Prague as a codeshare of CSA Czech airlines and beyond and Czech budget airline Smart Wings flies to several seasonal vacation destination.
From the airport Bus 76 runs every 30 minutes from about 4:30AM to 11:30PM to the bus and train stations in the city centre. The fare is CZK 22, and you can buy your ticket beforehand in the information centre or the ticket machine in the airport. (more information below).

By Train

Brno is an important stop on the Prague–Vienna and Prague–Bratislava–Budapest railway line; all IC(3 1/2 hours) and EC (2 hours 45mins) trains stop here. For some trains originating in Prague main Railway station (Praha hlavní nádraží), it is a terminal stop. There are about a dozen trains between Prague and Brno every day, some leaving from the Main Railway Station and others from the station in Prague Holesovice.
Prague: 2¾h, hourly IC/EC trains
Standard tickets are expensive when bought at the train station (CZK 333 first person, CZK 200 second, CZK 166 others), but you can get a great discount (up to CZK 170) if you buy them online, see SporoTiket Česko at Czech Republic#Train tickets. Currently (Jan 2012) there is also a special PROMO fare of CZK 200.
Vienna is even closer than Prague, only 1 hour 40 minutes away. Four EC trains daily (from Wien Sudbahnhof) link the two cities.
Brno hlavní nádraží (Brno Main Station) is located close to the city centre; almost all attractions are just within a few minutes walk. These attractions are to the north of the station, to the left coming out; follow the sign marked "Centrum," not the one marked "Centra."
(See the map of the Czech Republic with train connections here)

By Bus

From Brno you can travel by regular connections directly to 3 capitals - Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia). The journeys to Vienna and Bratislava take 1.5 hours and to Prague 2.5 hours. There are also many connections to Olomouc (1.5 hours), Ostrava and Northern Moravia (2 hours) and Eastern Moravia (1.5 hours), with the following companies:
Bohemian Lines, is a Brno based company. Buses roll off to Scandinavia every couple of days headed for Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and a slew of more exotic smaller towns. Copenhagen €57(1500 CZK), Stockholm €67(1750 CZK).
Student Agency. started by students, but offers service with free coffee, newspapers, and movies to everyone. Brno is the main hub and buses travel across Europe, and are known for their high quality. Vienna €8.
Tourbus a.s., is also based in Brno and serves many destinations and is particularly cheap to some international destinations. Vienna €5. edit
Eurolines CZ/Touring Bohemia, s. r. o., International and domestic routes. Some services include free newspapers, magazines and bottled water, some even have wifi. Book ahead for best price.
From and to Brno Airport
You can easily get to Brno Airport from the city centre using the direct bus line No. 76 which departs from the Brno Main train station from 04:30 AM to 11:00 PM every half hour. The bus goes every 20 minutes.
From the Brno Main train station the line 76 goes through the Main Bus Station (it stops near the tram terminus) and continues directly to the final stop at Brno Airport. New bus line 89 connects Brno Airport with city centre and northwest suburb also during the night.
The travel time from the centre to the airport is exactly 20 minutes. For one journey you need a 2-zone ticket valid for 40 minutes. These cost 22 CZK for adults, 11 CZK for children younger than 6 years or 80 CZK for 24 hour ticket.

By Metro

For metro information follow this link and see the Brno public transport map below.

By Tram

For tram information follow this link and see the Brno public transport map below.

By Taxi

to be added

By Car

Road transport makes Brno an international crossroad of highways. There are two motorways on the southern edge of the city, D1 leading to Ostrava and to Prague and D2 leading to Bratislava. Not far from the city limits there is also one expressway R52 leading to Vienna, another expressway R43 which should connect Brno to the northwestern Moravia is planned. The city is gradually building the large city ring road (road I/42), a few road tunnels were built (Tunnels Pisarky, Husovice, Hlinky and Královopolský) and new tunnels are planned.
For using the highway you have to buy a toll sticker.
(See the map of main highways in the Czech Republic here)