In the 1920s, when the historical photography below was taken, the physics building had a different shape than it does today. After the war, two recesses on side of the building facing the botanical garden were filled in to increase the amount of office space.
Building No. 6, before the recesses in the building were filled. Photo: MU Archive, undated.
This was also done before the war on the building that houses today's Mathematics Department, which was originally where the chemists used to live. For many years, the Mathematics Department was housed away from the faculty in a building on Janáček Square in Brno.
Only after the construction of the University Campus in Bohunice, relocation of the chemists and reconstruction of Building No. 8 could the mathematicians finally feel at home.
For many years, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics was located on Janáček Square.
Photo: MU Archive, undated.
Originally a three-storey building, No. 6, also known as the physics building, now uses the original attic space as offices. The premises at Kotlářská were not put into use by the department until 1921, though teaching began a little earlier. Prior to 1921, teaching took place in various rented premises (for example, today’s VUT), in courtyard workshops, in flats and the like. That’s how the Physics Department started. Today, the field has grown and there are now three separate Physics Departments, the Department of Physical Electronics, the Department of Condensed Matter Physics and the Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, each housed in a separate building.
Building No. 6 after the recesses were filled in. Note the massive growth of vegetation compared with the photo above. Photo: Libor Teplý, 2019.
A bird’s eye view of the whole campus, including the garden s is always interesting. Today, you can use drones with a camera in some places , while in others we still have to rely on a roof window of the surrounding building s , from which we have to lean out dangerously with an expensive camera to achieve...
Did you know that where the pond with the statue of the Frog now stands in the Botanical Garden, there was originally a tropical greenhouse with a pond where the first Victoria amazonica was grown as early as 1924?
