Bricks from three different periods and three different locations in the Czech Republic were characterised – bricks from the Zákupy castle (mid-17th century), bricks from the Negrelli viaduct in Prague (1846–1849) and a yellow brick from the Tuzar family tomb in Nymburk (1886). The results illustrate the development of the brick industry in the Czech lands. The bricks´ microstructure, chemical and mineralogical composition as well as their physical and mechanical properties were studied. To our knowledge, the yellow colour is much rarer than the red colour in bricks produced in the Czech lands. The yellow brick studied differs from the red bricks mainly by its higher CaO content and lower Al2O3 content. The effect of the Ca content becomes apparent at firing temperatures above 900 ℃. Whereas in the low-CaO bricks the iron-rich minerals present in the original raw material form haematite under these conditions, in the CaO-rich bricks the available iron is incorporated into calcium aluminosilicates. The absence of haematite means that no red colouring occurs and the bricks remain beige or yellow.