Interior of Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary
The
Franciscan Monastery
(
Czech
:
Franti?kansky kla?ter
) is located near the
Main Square
in
Plze?
, Czech Republic. Originally belonging to the
Minorites
, the later
Franciscan
monastery was founded at the end of the 13th century. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Chapterhouse and Chapel of St. Barbara also belong to the monastery complex.
The Franciscan church and monastery are among the city's oldest buildings and, for all the calamities of the
Hussite era
and
Thirty Years' War
, have, in essence, preserved their original early Gothic form.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The monastery, which originally belonged to the
Minorites
, dates back to around the 1295 foundation of
Pilsen
by King
Wencleslaus II
. The complex grew out in a southeastern direction from the new city
ramparts
.
The oldest parts of the monastery, from 1300, are the walls of the pentagonal
presbytery
and the eastern part of the triple
nave
.
[2]
Later on, the rest of the triple nave and the intermediate
arcade
were built. The monastery was vaulted bit by bit: the presbytery and the triple nave after 1350, the eastern part of the
cloister
around 1360, and the remaining parts by 1380.
[2]
The Minorites were banished from the monastery for a few months
[
when?
]
on the initiative of the radical
Hussite
priest Vaclav Koranda.
The monastery was damaged by fire during the 1433-1444 Hussite
siege of Pilsen
, and repaired by donations over the next 50 years.
On the command of
Pope Pius II
, the
Franciscans
took over the monastery.
[
when?
]
The tower of the church was built at the end of the 16th century, and in 1611 an additional chapel was built and consecrated to the Holy Trinity.
In 1618, Pilsen came under siege by the army of the Czech aristocracy under the command of Lord Mansfield, and the monastery was damaged again.
At the end of the 17th century, when the monastic community was at its peak, Jakub Auguston Sr. designed and built the Chapel of St. Anthony next to the north nave of the church, as well as a new monastery wing for novices. His nephew
Jakub Auguston Jr.
was the architect of the western facade of the monastery church, from 1722 to 1724.
During the
Josephine
reforms, while the community was not disbanded, its population declined.
[2]
The monastery continued to be remodeled throughout the 19th century and into the 1930s. In May 1950, the monastic community was forcibly disbanded by the socialist government as part of
Action K
[
cs
]
. The empty buildings were used as a children's home and, later, as the Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen. In 1989, with the change of the political regime, the monastery was returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which began to renovate the buildings based on the architectural concepts by Jan Soukup.
The Franciscans returned to Pilsen in 1996 according to the wishes of bishop Franti?k Radkovsky. The small community settled in an apartment in Vinice. Later, they bought the former kindergarten in Lochotin and it was adapted into the pastoral center Dome?ek.
Today, the monastery holds the Museum of Christian Art of the Pilsen Diocese, as well as service apartments for people in charge of the diocese and regular nuns. Unoccupied parts are used for various purposes by the Parish of
Cathedral of St. Bartholomew
and the Pilsen Bishopric.
[3]
Architecture
[
edit
]
Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
[
edit
]
The triple nave of the church is illuminated by small double windows from the late Gothic period, featuring different types of
traceries
. It has a
groin vault
with
ogee
arches, ending on the eastern side in a
triumphal arch
supported by semi-pillars.
[3]
Monumental Gothic
arcades
separate the aisles from the nave. The south aisle is directly connected to the monastic cloister, while the north aisle connects to the chapel of St. Anthony.
The long rectangular
chancel
is also cross-vaulted, ending in a
sexpartite vault
. The original columns remain inside the triumphal arch.
[3]
Corbels
are decorated with plant and animal motifs. The pillars on the outside of the chancel date to the early Gothic period.
A chapel on the north side of the chancel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built in 1611, and stands on the foundation of the original Gothic chapel. A Baroque tower reinforced by supportive pillars, also on the north side of the chancel, is from 1676. The sacristy, on the south side of the chancel, is once again cross-vaulted, with
bosses
.
The main altar, from 1698, is in a Baroque style. There is a 1636 copy of a
Peter Paul Rubens
painting. On the tabernacle is a Gothic Franciscan Madonna dated around 1420. On the side altar is a relief of
St. Anne
from 1525.
Cloister
[
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]
The cloister, like the church, has cross-vaulting, sometimes with bosses. It is built around a square central garden, which can be seen through Gothic windows, and accessed from the western wing through a doorway with a
shouldered arch
.
In the eastern part of the cloister, there is a late Gothic pulpit, from 1543, and a small
scriptorium
. In some parts of the cloister, late Gothic frescoes can still be seen.
Chapterhouse and Chapel of St. Barbara
[
edit
]
The square chapterhouse can be entered from the eastern wing of the cloister by three Gothic
portals
. The Unusually, it is also connected to the chancel of the Chapel of
St. Barbara
.
The chapterhouse has a
stellar vault
with ogee ribs and simple geometric corbels, built in 1460 to replace the original 14th-century vault which was destroyed by fire during the
Hussite Wars
. In the presbytery, the original vaulting survives, with a cross-vault and a pentagonal finish. The chapel and the eastern side of the chapterhouse are illuminated by two-part Gothic windows with simple tracery.
The presbytery is separated from the nave by a triumphal Gothic arch. Late Gothic scenes from the life of St. Barbara from after 1460 can still be found on the walls and the vaults.
Other rooms in the monastery
[
edit
]
Until the 18th-century modifications, the kitchen was built as one large open room with a smoke pipe intake over the whole plan. In 1697, the
refectory
was rebuilt in a Gothic style and connected to the kitchen; a novice wing was built at the same time.
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Cloister with exposition of Church Art Museum
-
Scriptorium
-
Chapterhouse
-
Gothic Franciscan Madonna
-
Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary
-
Portal in chancel leading to Chapel of Holy Trinity
-
Eastern wing
-
Cloister eastern wing
-
South wing
-
Garden
-
Chapterhouse
-
Chapel of St. Barbara
-
View from east side
-
View on the monastery from west side
Sources
[
edit
]
- E. Poche a kol., Um?lecke pamatky ?ech III. Praha 1980, str. 92?94.
- Kuthan, Ji?i. ?eska architektura v dob? poslednich P?emyslovc?: m?sta, hrady, kla?tery, kostely. Vyd. 1. Vimperk: Tina, 1994, 582 s.
ISBN
80-85618-14-1
.
- Bartu?ek, Antonin
. Um?lecke pamatky ?ech. 1. vyd. Editor Zden?k Wirth. Praha: Nakladatelstvi ?eskoslovenske akademie v?d, 1957, 938 s. Um?lecke pamatky republiky ?eskoslovenske, sv. 3.
References
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]
External links
[
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]
49°44′43.3″N
13°22′43.7″E
/
49.745361°N 13.378806°E
/
49.745361; 13.378806