St Thomas's Abbey (or the ''Königskloster'') () is an Augustinian abbey and church located in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. The

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

and

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Gregor Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel Order of Saint Augustine, OSA (; ; ; 20 July 1822 – 6 January 1884) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinians, Augustinian friar and abbot of St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, St. Thom ...

was its most famous

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

leader to date, who between 1856 and 1863 conducted his

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

s on

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

plants in the monastery

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

. His experiments brought forth two generalizations which later became known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. The Abbey is unique amongst modern Augustinian foundations because it is not called a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

, and indeed it has an

(''Prälat'' - prelate) whereas all other existing Augustinian friaries are led by a

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

History

The Augustinians arrived in

in 1346, and John Henry of Luxemburg (Jan Jindřich Lucemburský), Margrave of

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, began the construction of their original

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

in 1352. These premises are located on Moravian Square. In 1650s, a musical foundation for the monastery was established, with paid musical

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

s. This was the early beginning of a long and significant musical tradition at the Brno monastery. In 1780s, the Emperor Joseph II forced the friars to move out because he liked their well-located and representative buildings. These were given to the governor office and the church was turned to standard parish church. The friars moved to suburban Staré Brno where they took over the abolished Cistercian convent and church. Czech composer Pavel Křížkovský also took monastic vows at Brno, teaching liturgical music from 1848 until 1872, and from 1865 he formed an ongoing musical collaboration with the young ( lay) composer

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

who had come from his home in

Hukvaldy Hukvaldy () is a municipality and village in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,200 inhabitants. The municipality is known for the ruins of the third-largest castle in the Czech Republic, ...

and begun as a choirboy at the monastery.

Mendel Museum

The Augustinian Abbey now hosts the Mendel Museum of GeneticsMendelmuseum.muni.cz
/ref> dedicated to the founder of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

. Visits to the Museum include a walk in the garden in which

carried out his famous experiments.

References

External links

Photographic tour of St. Thomas' Abbey

Order of St Augustine, International Homepage

Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas at Brno

Mendel Museum of MU website

Masaryk University to rebuild Mendel’s greenhouse , Brno Now
{{Authority control Augustinian monasteries Christian monasteries in the Czech Republic Christian monasteries established in the 14th century Churches in Brno Gregor Mendel Burial sites of the Opavian Přemyslids Augustinian churches in the Czech Republic