Franciscan Monastery, Plzeň

Interior of Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary

The Franciscan Monastery is located near the Main Square in Plzeň, 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.

History

The foundation of the monastery goes back to the same time as the foundation of Pilsen by King Wencleslaus II, which happened around 1295. The monastery originally belonged to the Minorites. Along with the newly uprising city, the complex started to grow in a south-eastern direction from the city ramparts.

The oldest parts from 1300 are the walls of the pentagonal presbytery and the eastern part of the triple nave. Later on, the rest of the triple nave and the intermediate arcade were built. The presbytery and the triple nave were vaulted after 1350. The eastern part of the cloister was vaulted around 1360. By 1380 the process of vaulting the remaining parts was done. The Minorites were banished from the monastery on the initiative of the radical Hussite priest Václav Koranda. A few months later they were allowed to return. During the siege of Pilsen by the Hussite army in 1433–1434, a fire damaged the monastery. Thanks to donations, it was possible to repair the destroyed monastery in the following 50 years. On the command of Pope Pius II, the Franciscans took over the monastery.

In 1618 the monastery was damaged again during the siege of Pilsen by the army of the Czech aristocracy under the command of Lord Mansfield. The tower of the church was built at the end of the 16th century. In 1611 an additional chapel was built and consecrated to the Holy Trinity. A wing for novices was built at the end of the 17th century along with the Chapel of St. Anthony. The chapel was built next to the north nave of the church. The architect of the two was Jakub Auguston, Senior. Later on, his nephew Jakub Auguston Jr. came to Pilsen and worked on the construction of the monastery as well. He was the architect of the western facade of the monastery church (1722–1724). The monastic community was probably at its peak at that time. During the Josephine reforms the community was not disbanded, but the numbers of monks were reduced and continued to decline.

More remodeling was completed in the 19th century and the 1930s. The monastic community was disbanded because of Action K (an illegal brute liquidation of monasteries and male regular orders) in May 1950. During socialism the buildings were used as a children's home and later as the Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen. When the political regime changed in 1989 the monastery was given back to hands of the Roman Catholic Church, which began to renovate the buildings step by step based on the architectural concepts by Jan Soukup.

Nowadays the Museum of Christian Art of the Pilsen Diocese is located in the monastery's most interesting parts. Other spaces serve the purposes of the Parish of Cathedral of St. Bartholomew and the Pilsen Bishopric. It also contains service apartments for people in charge of the diocese and regular nuns.

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Triple nave

The small basilican triple nave is vaulted by four serveries with a cross vault. Ogee moulded vaulting ribs are led into simple geometric console with polygonal cover. The eastern triple nave is ended by triumphal arch situated on ogee moulded semi-pillars. The nave is separated from its aisles by monumental cylindrical non-profiled posts carrying Gothic arcade. The arcade is carrying smooth wall with small double windows which consist of different types of traceries that illuminate the nave. The south aisle is directly connected to the monastic cloister. From the north aisle it is possible to access the chapel of St. Anthony with octagonal plan.

Presbytery

The nave continues as a long rectangular presbytery which is vaulted by three serveries of cross vault and is ended by pentagonal end with sexpartite vaulting. Walls of the presbytery were structured by round thin vaulting shaft, that remained still only in the tips and inside triumphal arch. Vault ribs are led into the consoles decorated with vegetal and animal motives. Triple windows with different traceries are late Gothic whereas the pillars supporting the presbytery on the outside are early Gothic.

Other spaces

On the north side of the presbytery is late a Renaissance chapel of the Holy Trinity which was built in 1611 and is standing on the basis of the original Gothic chapel. It is possible to access the chapel from the presbytery through the monumental Gothic portal with ogee moulded profile. The arch is decorated with crockets and top flower and it is finished with consoles with vegetal motif. Further, on the north side of the presbytery in the corner of the aisle is a rectangular tower reinforced by supportive pillars (today's Baroque look comes from 1676). South from the presbytery is a sacristy which is vaulted by two serveries of cross vaulting. Vaulting ribs are led to the bosses.

Equipment

The main Baroque altar was made in 1698. There is a copy of a painting from P. P. Rubens from 1636. On the tabernacle is a Gothic Franciscan Madonna dated around 1420. On the side altar is a relief of St. Anne from 1525.

Cloister

On the squared plan there is a cross corridor which is on each side vaulted by four serveries of cross vaulting without the corner serveries. In the other parts of corridor there are vaulting ribs led to the wall without consoles. There where vaulting ribs cross there are sometimes bosses but not in every servery. The bosses are shaped partially like plates and are partially circular. The cloister goes around a squared garden, which can be seen through Gothic windows with flute profile. The garden is accessible from the western wing through the doorway with a shouldered arch. In the eastern part of the cloister is a late Gothic decorated pulpit from 1543 and small scriptorium. In some places, a late Gothic fresco can still be seen.

Chapterhouse and Chapel of St. Barbara

The chapterhouse can be entered from eastern wing of the cloister by three Gothic portals. The chapterhouse has a square plan. The chapel is connected to the presbytery of the Chapel of St. Barbara. This connection of the chapterhouse and chapel is unusual. The chapterhouse is vaulted by a star vault with eight serveries. In the corners there are ogee moulded vaulting ribs ended with simple geometric consoles. Other vaulting ribs are led simply into the wall. This vault was built in 1460; the original one was probably similar and was made in the half of the 14th century. It was destroyed by fire during the Hussite Wars. In the presbytery, however, the vaulting is still original. It is made up of one rectangular cross vaulted servery and ends with pentagonal finish. The chapel is illuminated by three two-part Gothic windows with simple tracery. The same windows illuminate the chapterhouse from the eastern side. The presbytery is separated from the nave by a triumph Gothic arch which is composed of ogee moulded profile and flute profile which is connected to round vaulting shaft of the nave. Late Gothic scenes from the life of St. Barbara from after 1460 can still be found on the walls and on the vaulting serveries. The chapel and the presbytery are illuminated by two-part Gothic windows.

Other rooms in the monastery

In the monastery there is also a refectory, which was rebuilt in Baroque style in 1697 and was connected to the kitchen. The kitchen was built as one large open room with a smoke pipe intake over the whole plan until the modifications in 18th century. During those Baroque modifications the novice wing was built.

Franciscans today in Pilsen

The Franciscans returned to Pilsen in 1996 according to the wishes of bishop Františk Radkovský. The small community settled in an apartment in Vinice. Later, they bought the former kindergarten in Lochotín and it was adapted into the pastoral center Domeček.

Gallery

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  Cloister with exposition of Church Art Museum

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  Scriptorium

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  Chapterhouse

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  Gothic Franciscan Madonna

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  Church of Assumption of Virgin Marry

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  Portal in presbytery leading to Chapel of Holy Trinity

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  Eastern wing

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  Cloister eastern wing

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  South wing

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  Garden

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  Chapterhouse

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  Chapel of St. Barbara

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  View from east side

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  View on the monastery from west side

Sources

• Vlček, Sommer, Foltýn, Encyklopedie českých klášterů. Praha 1997, str. 426 nn.
• Vlček, Pavel, Petr SOMMER a Dušan FOLTÝN. Encyklopedie českých klášterů. Dotisk 1. vyd. Praha: Libri, 1998, 778 s. ISBN 80-85983-17-6.
• E. Poche a kol., Umělecké památky Čech III. Praha 1980, str. 92–94.
• Kuthan, Jiří. Česká architektura v době posledních Přemyslovců: města, hrady, kláštery, kostely. Vyd. 1. Vimperk: Tina, 1994, 582 s. ISBN 80-85618-14-1.
• Líbal, Dobroslav. Katalog gotické architektury v České republice do husitských válek. 1. vyd. Praha: Unicornis, 2001, 607 s. ISBN 80-901587-8-1.
• Bartušek, Antonín. Umělecké památky Čech. 1. vyd. Editor Zdeněk Wirth. Praha: Nakladatelství Československé akademie věd, 1957, 938 s. Umělecké památky republiky Československé, sv. 3.

External links

• Pilsen, museums and galleries