At midday today, Brno’s famous fireworks festival, Ignis Brunensis, will officially begin. As every year, the centrepiece of the festival will be its fireworks, and this year there will be two shows: one tonight and one on Saturday. Both will take place above Spilberk Castle. During the four days, festival-goers can also enjoy a range of educational and entertaining events and concerts. Photo credit: Freepik / For illustrative purposes.

Brno, Aug 20 (BD) – Two fireworks displays over Brno’s Spilberk Castle and a diverse four-day program will liven up Brno from today until Sunday, August 23rd. The events will take place in multiple locations throughout the city, and include a trip to medieval times with traditional dishes, several musical performances in different styles, and Moravian wines available to sample throughout the festival.

Today, the first day of the festival, the national and local police and the South Moravian fire brigade will give a demonstration of the “integrated rescue system” from 1pm until 4pm on Namesti Svobody. There will also be events at the Bishop’s Court, in the Vida! Science Center, readings (in Czech) at the library and other events. At 10.30pm, a fireworks show, “Daisies of Brno” by Theatrum Pyroboli, will light up the sky above Spilberk.

Friday, August 21st, will be marked by music – there will be jazz in the Bishop’s Court, while at Spilberk Castle the Spilberk Festival will conclude with a concert by the Prague Symphony. At Brno Zoo, children and adults alike can experience wild nature in virtual reality.

On Saturday, August 22nd, Brno will be transported to the Middle Ages. The Hlídka ecological education center will host an entertaining presentation of historical crafts and medieval dishes to children and adults. In the evening, there will be a folklore concert at the Bishop’s Court.

On Saturday evening, another firework show will take place above Spilberk at 10.30pm. The show, by Flash Barrandov SFX Fireworks, will pay a symbolic tribute to all the people who helped others during the challenging period of spring 2020. “With this fireworks project we want to thank not only the people in the front line, but also everyone else, for coping with the challenging period,” said Jaroslav Stolba, technical director of Ignis Brunensis and one of the designers of the display. The central theme music will be “Imagine” by John Lennon.

Both firework displays can also be viewed from Kravi Hora, along with the inflated moon installation Lunalon. Before the fireworks, there will be a series of projections in the digital gallery.

On Sunday, August 23rd, DPMB and the Brno Technical Museum will continue their “Traffic Nostalgia” carnival, which will take place at different locations for all four days of the festival, offering rides in historic cars, an exhibition and a tour of the depots. The popular steam- and horse-drawn trams will also be running.

For the first time, visitors will also be able to see the historic Škoda 706 RTO bus, which the DPMB managed to acquire after five years of efforts. This bus carried passengers in Brno from the end of the 1960s to the beginning of the 1980s, and is now part of the transport company’s retro vehicle collection, which currently includes 14 vehicles. “We care about this mainly because of the legacy for future generations. Old cars are very popular with the public, and at the same time I see them not only as a good investment, but also as an effective tool for the promotion of public transport,” said Milos Havranek, CEO of DPMB.

From today until Saturday night, a range of Moravian wines will be available on Namesti Svobody.

For the full program of the festival, check the Ignis Brunensis website here.

Changes to Public Transport

Today, from 1pm until 6pm, Saturday, from 9.30am until 7.30pm and Sunday, from 9.30am until 5.30pm, tram lines 4 and 9 will not pass through Namesti Svobody and will be on diversion.

During the fireworks displays, traffic will temporarily be restricted on Pekarska, from 10.30pm until 11.30pm. Trams on lines 5 and 6 will be diverted or wait for traffic to resume. After the end of the fireworks, service on selected lines from ​​Mendlovo Namesti and the city center will be intensified. DPMB will publish regular live updates of the service situation.

Traffic on lines 1, 3, 4, 8 and 12 will be extended until 23:25 (last departures from the Hlavni nadrazi stop). Traffic on lines 5 and 6 will be extended until approximately 23:00, selected connections on line 5 will be extended to the Central Cemetery loop. Operation on lines 25, 26, 36 and 37 will be extended until approximately 23:00. Traffic on lines 44 and 84 (line 84 only in the section Mendlovo namesti – Stara osada) will be extended until approximately 23:00.

Please check DPMB’s website to find out more on what this means for your routes, and to stay updated on the current situation.