BASIC INFORMATION —BRNO - THE HEART OF EUROPE Brno is the second largest city in Czech Republic. Its geographical position is in the centre of Europe close to principal capitals of — central-western and central-eastern Euro| he place for the congress will be the Brno Congress in the Brno Trade Fair area. Brno Trade Fairs (BVV) minent trade centres in the whole Europe. It provides Inge and variability of the areas both for the mass ‘and for Congress activities (lectures, Commissions s and Working Group sessions, banquets, informal meeting points, poster areas, UIS Bureau rooms, etc.). There is the sufficient capacity of accommodation near the congress centre - from the luxury hotels (*****) up to student dormitaniesend camps. 5c parking areas are in front of the centre and the bus and tram stops to join it with the city centre and the important traffic nodes. The nearest international airport is 20 km far (it has only limited possibilities of fly connections), but important international airport for traditional and low-cost airlines are located within quite short distances, like Vienna (120 km), Prague (200 km), Katowice (some 120 km) or Krakow (some 180 km). Brno is well connected by also by railways (crossingofrails of the N-S andW-E principal routes) and is directly connected on network of European highways. www. speleo2013.comTHE MORAVIAN KARST In the north of Brno begins the largest and the most important karst area in Czech Republic - the Moravian Karst with more than 1,200 caves. The history of the exploration of the Moravian Karst is longer than 200 years and it brought many discoveries not only speleological but also paleontological and archeological. There will be organized one-day congress excursion, pre- and post-congtess camps and some caves will be the goal of the excursions within the congress. The regions rich in sites listed in the UNESCO World Heritage (like city of Telé, area Lednice-Valtice park, of some other cultural and religion sites), as well as Biospheric reservations of UNESCO (Pavlov Hills).