Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul, Brno

Rising on the Petrov hill that gives Brno its silhouette, the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul stands on the site of an 11th-century chapel, rebuilt many times and given its dramatic 84-metre neo-Gothic twin spires only in 1905. Its most curious tradition dates to 1645, when Swedish forces besieging Brno reportedly vowed to abandon the assault if the city had not fallen by noon; the cathedral bell-ringer cunningly rang the midday bells an hour early, at eleven, and the Swedes duly withdrew. To this day the cathedral bells ring noon at 11 a.m. in memory of the ruse that saved the city. The cathedral appears on the Czech ten-crown coin.