The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in
Old Brno Abbey is a
high Gothic
High Gothic is a particularly refined and imposing style of Gothic architecture that appeared in northern France from about 1195 until 1250. Notable examples include Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral, and ...
, monumental
convent temple. It was founded in 980-1020 by the unknown lord or monarch in
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
. It was built on the site of an ancient sanctuary from the late 10th century in a short time in the years 1323 to 1334 at the instigation of Queen
Elizabeth Richeza. It is the best preserved stylistically coherent and unified temple in
Lands of Bohemian crown
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bo ...
.
History
The temple is rightly called a gem of gothic architecture of Lands of Bohemian crown. In 1323 the
double queen -
royal widow Elizabeth Richeza founded a
Cistercian convent
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.
History
The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in th ...
(
in Latin) called ''Aulae Sanctae Mariae'' beside to the oldest pre
romanesque parisch church of Oure Lady in Old Brno. After her death in 1335 Elizabeth Richeza found her final resting burial place in the basilica. The spot is marked by the letter „E“ with a small crown carved in the paving of the church.
In the 18th century, the interior of the church was rebuilt in the
baroque style
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
. That period also witnessed the finishing of the Baroque buildings of the Abbey. In the 1783 the Austrian Emperor
Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...
closter abbey Old Brno was dissolved (
Josephinists reforms) and ordened the Augustinians to move to Old Brno from their original monastery of
St. Thomas was situated in front of Běhounská Gate (Porta Rhenensis), later Lažansky square (what is now Moravské náměstí).
The
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
also had a glourious „silver altar“ in
baldachin
A baldachin, or baldaquin (from it, baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over h ...
form made in
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
and erected when the icon of the Black Madonna was crowned in 1736.
At the
Feast of the Assumption
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows:
We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...
of Our Lady a pilgrimage is held every year on August 15 in the basilica to worhip her as the Protector of the city of Brno.
The abbey church was promoted in 1987 by
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
to the rank of a
Minor Basilica
In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...
Architecture
The abbey church is of typical
Cistercian architecture
Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was heavily influenced by Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), who believed that churches should ...
, built in the
Gothic style
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-
cruciform layout - main nave,
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
and two side
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
s. The nave and its flanking aisles have a vaulted by
rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic ...
. The nave and its transept a vaulted
ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...
more than 22 m (72,6 ft) high. The
triple choir consists of the right choir in the east and two side chapels in cruciform layout. The crossing is separated from the nave by a massive transverse arches. Whole building body have 34 monumental
tracery windows, most of them tripled. Nine of them with
lancet arch
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...
, 14
equilateral arch. The church was primarily constructed as
fair faced brick work (
Flemish bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks ...
), the first
brick Gothic
Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...
building in the region but using also stone (for
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
es,
quoin
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
s,
dripstones,
embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s,
dripstones,
water tables, plinths
gargoyle
In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...
s) from the local area -
Stránská skála quarry –
crinoid
Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
. The building has an inside length of 67,45 metres (38 moravian
fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...
s), width 28,4 metres (16 moravian fathoms) and a height to the ceiling of 23.07 metres. Transept 40 m. Building as typical
Cistercian churches have no tower, only one small
flèche
Flèche or Fleche may refer to:
*Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire
*Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition
*Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique
*Flèche (fortification)
A flèche ( Fr. for "arrow") is ...
(spire) - on the crossing of central nave and
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
. The layout of the basilica consists of one nave and two
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
s, with the transept crossing the nave and aisles. South side of the transept have now an entrance.
Notable individuals
*
Elizabeth Richeza - Queen
*
John of Bohemia
John the Blind or John of Luxembourg ( lb, Jang de Blannen; german: link=no, Johann der Blinde; cz, Jan Lucemburský; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of ...
- King and cofounder
*
Henry of Lipá
Henry of Lipá (Czech: ''Jindřich z Lipé''; died 26 August 1329) was a prominent Czech nobleman, marshal, and powerful magnate in the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Biography
Henry was born to the prominent Ronovci family, though the date of his birth r ...
- Governor and Magnate, cofounder
*
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel, Augustinians, OSA (; cs, Řehoř Jan Mendel; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was a biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinians, Augustinian friar and abbot of St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, St. Thomas' Abbey in Br ...
- Abbot and scientist
Mendel: ''The Man, The Monk, The Scientist'', Anderson Eric, and Anderson Nancy, MD magazine, June 04 2012
/ref>
* Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European fol ...
- Composer
* František Klácel
František Matouš Klácel (April 8, 1808, Česká Třebová, Bohemia – March 17, 1882, Belle Plaine, Iowa, US) was a Czech author, philosopher, pedagogue, and journalist. Since 1827 he was an Augustinian friar in Brno, co-brother of Gregor Men ...
- Priest
* Francis Thomas Bratranek - Priest and Cracow University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
Rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
* Pavel Křížkovský
Pavel Křížkovský (born as Karel Křížkovský) (9 January 1820, Kreuzendorf – 8 May 1885, Brno) was a Czech choral composer and conductor.
Life
Křížkovský was born in Kreuzendorf, Austrian Silesia. He was a chorister in a monastery ...
- Composer and friar
Gallery
File:Bazilika Virgin Mary Brno.jpg, The High altar erectet 1736
File:Basilika minor.JPG, View from the nearby Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel, Augustinians, OSA (; cs, Řehoř Jan Mendel; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was a biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinians, Augustinian friar and abbot of St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, St. Thomas' Abbey in Br ...
square to the north west
File:Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Brno.jpg, At night, from Abbatial Yard to the south; artificial light highlights the buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es
File:Bazilica Old Brno.jpg, South part of the transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
- The rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...
.
File:Vitrážové okno.jpg, Big rose window
File:Starobrněnský klášter kostel 1.jpg, Body of the basilica from the north - (from The "Yellow hill")
File:Basilica minor in Old Brno Abbey -Transept.jpg, One of the chapels.
File:Bazilica of The Assumption, Brno.jpg, The giant Menorah - unknown origin (15th C.)
File:BrnoBazilika.jpg, Exterior 19th century graphic
File:Starobrněnský klášter 3.jpg, Whole complex of Abbey buildings
File:Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, Brno.jpg, Papal baner
File:Brno, Bazilika Nanebevzetí Panny Marie 01.jpg, Aerial view from the Spilberk Castle
File:Bazilika Nanebevzetí Panny Marie (Brno).JPG, South east view
File:Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, Abbatial church, Brno.jpg, Simple tomb of Queen Elizabeth Richeza of Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and Polonia
Services
Regular religious services in the Basilic are:
*Sunday 07:30 Mass, 09:00 Mass, 11:00 Mass
*Tuesday 18:00 Mass
*Wednesday 18:00 Mass
*Thursday 18:00 Mass
*Friday 18:00 Mass
*Saturday 08:00 Mass
See also
* Czech Gothic architecture
Czech Gothic architecture refers to the architectural period primarily of the Late Middle Ages in the area of the present-day Czech Republic (former Crown of Bohemia, primarily consisting of the Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia).
T ...
* St Thomas's Abbey, Brno
St Thomas's Abbey (or the ''Königskloster'') is an Augustinian abbey and church located in Brno in the Czech Republic. The geneticist and abbot Gregor Mendel was its most famous religious leader to date, who between 1856 and 1863 conducted his ...
* Porta coeli Convent
Porta coeli ("Heaven's Gate" in Latin) is a 13th-century convent (women monastery) located in Předklášteří, near Tišnov, South Moravian Region, Czech Republic, after which the asteroid 3276 Porta Coeli is named. Situated in the valley of ...
* Cistercian architecture
Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was heavily influenced by Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), who believed that churches should ...
Further reading
* KUTAL, Albert, (1972) ''Gothic art in Bohemia and Moravia''.London/New York, Hamlyn ISBN
* BOEHM, Barbara Drake; et al. (2005). ''Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 F ...
.
* HLOBIL, Ivo (eds. 2000), ''The Last Flowers of the Middle Ages. From the Gothic to the Renaissance in Moravia and Silesia''. Olomouc/Brno.
* SAMEK, Bohumil (1993), ''Klášter augustiniánů v Brně''. Brno NPU. 62 P. (in Czech)
Transport
References
External links
Abbey home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazilika Nanebevzeti Panny Marie (Brno)
Basilica churches in the Czech Republic
Churches in Brno
Cistercian Order
Gothic architecture in the Czech Republic
Cistercian monasteries in the Czech Republic
14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the Czech Republic
National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic
1320s establishments in Europe
1323 in Europe