Měnín Gate (Měnínská brána)

The only preserved gate from Brno’s historic city walls

In the 13th century, people could enter Brno through five gates: the Běhounská (Runner’s), Veselá (Happy), Brněnská (Brno), Židovská (Jewish), and Měnínská (Měnín) Gates. The earliest known documentation of the Měnín Gate, from 1293, suggests that the gate was once located where today’s Kobližná and Jánská Streets converge. Sources from 1348 indicate that only a small gate was there, while the city gate was located one street further south.

The gate acquired its current look around 1500. Various sources report that the gate had three or four levels at that time. The gate lost its function in the middle of the 17th century when a massive bastion was built in front of it as part of a Baroque fortress. In 1839, the gate was shortened and renovated to serve as a house.

About a decade later, it was no longer possible to walk through it. Not long after that, the building was purchased by a local businesswoman, Mrs Navrátilová, who brought tvarůžky (a special smelly kind of cheese from Olomouc) to Brno and let it ripen in its basement. She used the money from the sales to repair the building. Four generations of her family lived in the renovated building over the next decades. In 1945, the gate was seriously damaged by artillery fire. Towards the end of the 1960s, it became the property of Brno, which in turn sold it to a private owner.

The owner did not repair the property and it continued to deteriorate until it was returned to the city of Brno. In 1978–1982, the gate was renovated and then passed on to Muzeum města Brna (the Brno City Museum). It has housed a toy museum since 2010.

ATTENTION! Měnín Gate is since January 2020 closed!

Nearest stop of public transport: Malinovského náměstí