Abbey of St. Thomas and Abbey Church of the Assumption

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Monastery building, partly used by St. Thomas Abbey, partly used by Masaryk University ( Mendel Museum), and the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin

The Abbey of St. Thomas in Old Brno , Czech Augustiniánské opatství svatého Tomáše na Starém Brně , is an abbey in Staré Brno in Brno , Czech Republic . The monastery buildings come from the Cistercian convent Aula Sanctae Mariae , which existed here from 1323 to 1782. In 1783 the Augustinians moved here from their regular place at St. Thomas Church in the north of the old town.

The Assumption Church was built in the 14th century soon after the monastery was founded and on October 6, 1987, Pope John Paul II made it a minor basilica .

Staré Brno (Old Brno) is not the old town of Brno, but a long time separate settlement west of the Špilberk fortress .

First churches in Staré Brno

Floor plan 1797: basilica, previous church, monastery building

The first church building on the site of today's basilica was a round chapel built around the year 1000. In the course of the 12th century, a single-nave church was built next to it in several unspecified construction stages. At the beginning of the 14th century there was a St. Mary's Church and a chapel of St. Procopius here .

Cistercian convent Marien-Saal

From the northeast, the basilica is in front of most of the monastery buildings

The Bohemian queen widow Elisabeth Richza was the wife of the Przemyslid Wenceslaus II and the Habsburg Rudolf I (not to be confused with the Roman-German King Rudolf I ). She was no longer involved in government affairs, because Heinrich of Carinthia had been King of Bohemia since 1307 and Johann von Luxemburg , who was born in 1316 as son and successor Wenceslaus, who later became Emperor Charles IV, ruled from 1310 on April 15, 1323 they supported by the Olomouc Bishop Konrad that in old Brno (old Brno) next to the old St. Mary's Church Cistercian monastery Aula Sanctae Mariae ( "Mary's hall"). It was popularly referred to as the royal monastery because of the circumstances of its establishment . In 1333 a hospital for 17 people - eight lay people, eight old priests and a deacon - was founded next to the monastery.

The monastery was destroyed or badly damaged three times, namely in 1428 by the Hussites , in 1467 by Georg von Poděbrad and in 1645 by the Swedish general Lennart Torstensson .

The Sedlec monastery exercised the patronage rights . As part of the Josephine reforms , the monastery was dissolved in 1782.

Abbey Church of the Assumption

Vault ribs made of ashlar; single-nave western part
More precisely: choir basilica , nave with one nave
south transept gable

Today the Assumption Basilica is both a monastery and a parish church. Although it is ranked below the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul , it is often referred to as "Chram", which means something like the German word "Dom". It is one of the few examples of brick Gothic in the Czech Republic.

It is not known exactly when the construction of the new church began, but in 1333 construction had certainly progressed in several parts.

As early as 1329, Heinrich von Leipa , the leading head of the Bohemian nobility, had designated the Church of the Assumption of Mary as his final resting place shortly before his death. Elisabeth Richza lived in the Cistercian convent from 1332. She died in 1335 and was buried under the crossing of the church.

The building is mostly made of brick , which gives the exterior an unusual character for the Moravian region . Parts that are particularly sensitive for the statics were made of stone , the columns and the vault ribs. Architecturally, only the choir has the shape of a basilica , to the west of the transept the church interior has a single nave.

Augustinian Hermits

Basilica and cloister courtyard from the north

In 1783 the vacant, former Cistercian convent of Altbrünn was assigned to the Augustinian hermits who had to leave their St. Thomas Abbey on today's Moravské náměstí in Brno. The monastery was dissolved by the communist government in 1950. In 1989 the Augustinians returned to the abbey.

The original Brno Augustinian monastery of St. Thomas was founded in 1350. It was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1752 because the clergy had to send a representative to the sessions of the Diet of Moravian Estates and Brno did not become a bishopric until 1777. This historical fact makes it special that Brno is the only abbey of the Augustinian Order (OSA) in the world.

Gregor Mendel was abbot of this monastery from 1868 until his death in 1884. In part of the monastery buildings, a museum commemorates him, set up by Masaryk University . It is called Mendelovo Muzeum in Czech and internationally Mendel Museum of Masaryk University .

literature

  • Bernard Peugniez : Le Guide Routier de l'Europe Cistercienne . Editions du Signe, Strasbourg 2012, p. 1087.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e History baziliky Nanebevzetí Panny Marie na Starém Brně a kláštera. In: opatstvibrno.cz (Czech), accessed on August 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ https://mendelmuseum.muni.cz/en/

Coordinates: 49 ° 11 ′ 30.8 "  N , 16 ° 35 ′ 39.4"  E