Brno Centre Geotrail – Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

When placing important buildings in a city, distinctive elevated places are usually chosen. Such is the case for the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. This dominant sight in the city stands on a hill made of rock more than 700 million years old called metabasalt. We can see outcrops of these rocks in front of the cathedral entrance – with cars parked on natural pavement. The building stones for the cathedral came from quarries in Brno or nearby: light limestone from Stránská skála, reddish purple conglomerate and sandstone from Červený kopec and Žlutý kopec, and dark metabasalt probably from small quarries in the Brno centre. The interior uses stones such as dark grey marble from Hády and reddish marble from nearby Křtiny.