Palace Moravia, Cultural monument in Brno, Czech Republic

Palace Moravia is a functionalist building complex on Malinovského náměstí in Brno, designed by Ernst Wiesner and built in two stages (1929 and 1936). Its facade combines unplastered brickwork with a white reinforced concrete skeleton, and travertine-clad towers stand at each corner. The core is a large light well topped by a glass roof pavilion, with a glass elevator tower in the courtyard.

In 1926 Hermine Stiassni bought the former variety theatre on the site and held an international competition for a hotel, inviting Peter Behrens, Jacobus Oud, Archibald Campbell and Ernst Wiesner. She then changed plans to a commercial and rental building, and Wiesner's winning design was built from 1928; she sold it unfinished to the Moravian Provincial Life Insurance Company. The older wing opened in 1929, and Wiesner's linked insurance building completed the complex in 1936.

The building's lower level housed the Kapitol cinema and a bar, with a café on the first floor and flats above. It is a protected cultural monument of the Czech Republic. A tram block loop runs around the whole complex, and the building is open to the public only to a limited extent.

The complex stands on Brno's ring between Malinovského náměstí and Divadelní and Benešova streets, encircled by a tram block loop. The building is open to the public only to a limited extent, so visits are confined to accessible parts. The main staircase is semicircular, and a glass lift tower stands in the courtyard.

The building's core is a giant light well topped by a glass-roofed pavilion, reached by a semicircular staircase and a gallery clad in white ceramic. A glass elevator tower stands in the courtyard, unusual for its time.