Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, Brno

The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Old Brno Abbey is a high Gothic, monumental convent temple.[1] It was founded in 980-1020 by the unknown lord or monarch in Moravia. 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.[2] It is the best preserved stylistically coherent and unified temple in Lands of Bohemian crown.[3]

The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Brno
The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Old Brno Abbey
Aulae Sanctae Mariae
Bazilika Nanebevzetí Panny Marie
The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Brno
49°11′27.6″N 16°36′25.2″E
LocationBrno, Moravia
CountryCzech Republic
DenominationRoman Catholic
Websitewww.opatbrno.cz//
History
Former name(s)Virgin Mary
StatusActive
FoundedIith 1323-1334
Founder(s)Elisabeth Richeza
DedicationAssumption of Our Lady
Cult(s) presentRoman Catholic
Architecture
Functional statusAugustinian Abbey + Parish church
StyleGothic
Years built1323 - 1334
Specifications
Number of spires1 (flèche - slender spire only, ridge turret)
Bells4
Administration
ParishOld Brno
ArchdioceseBrno
Clergy
ArchbishopVojtěch Cikrle
AbbotLukáš Evžen Martinec (emmeritus)
ProvostJuan Bautista Ignacio Provecho López OSA
Laity
Organist(s)Leoš Janáček (early 20th C.)

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 (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. That period also witnessed the finishing of the Baroque buildings of the Abbey. In the 1783 the Austrian Emperor Joseph II 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 also had a glourious „silver altar“[4] in baldachin form made in Augsburg and erected when the icon of the Black Madonna was crovned in 1736. At the Feastof the assumption of Our Lady a pilgrimage is held every year (August 15th) 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 to the rank of a Minor Basilica

Architecture

The abbey church is of typical Cistercian architecture, built in the Gothic style - cruciform layout - main nave, transept and two side aisles. The nave and its flanking aisles have a vaulted by rib vault. The nave and its transept a vaulted ceiling more than 22 m (72,6 ft) high. The triple choir consists of the right choir in the east and two side chevettes (chaples) 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, 14 equilateral arch. The church was primarily constructed as fair faced brick work (Flemish bond), the first brick Gothic building in the region but using also stone (for arches, quoins, dripstones, embrasures, dripstones, water tables, pliths gargoyles) from the local area - Stránská skála quarry – crinoid limestone. The building has an inside length of 67,45 metres (38 moravian fathoms), 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 (spire) - on the crossing of central nave and transept. The layout of the basilica consists of one nave and two aisles, with the transept crossing the nave and aisles. South side of the transept have now an entrance.

Notable individuals
  • Gallery
  • The High altar erectet 1736
  • View from the nearby Gregor Mendel square to the north west
  • At night, from Abbatial Yard to the south; artificial light highlights the buttresses
  • South part of the transept - The rose window.
  • Big rose window
  • Body of the basilica from the north - (from The "Yellow hill")
  • One of the chapels.
  • The giant Menorah - unknown origin (15th C.)
  • Exterior 19th Century graphic
  • Whole complex of Abbey buildings
  • Papal baner
  • Aerial wiew from the Spilberk Castle
  • South east wiew
  • Simple tomb of Queen Elizabeth Richeza of Bohemia 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

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. ISBN 1588391612
  • HLOBIL, Ivo (eds. 2000), The Last Flowers of the Middle Ages. From the Gothic to the Renaissance in Moravia and Silesia. Olomouc/Brno. ISBN 80-85227-40-1
  • SAMEK, Bohumil (1993), Klášter augustiniánů v Brně. Brno NPU. 62 P.ISBN 80-85032-19-8 (in Czech)

Transport
Tram 1/5/6
Mendlovo náměstí
Trolleybus 25/26/37 Mendlovo náměstí
Autobus 44/52/406 Mendlovo náměstí

References
  1. AUGUSTINIAN ABBEY WITH THE BASILICA OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN BRNO
  2. Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady (Bazilika Nanebevzetí Panny Marie)
  3. The Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Old Brno
  4. Silver Altar and Coronation Set Also known as:The Moravian palladium; Thaumaturga; The Madonna of Old Brno
  5. Mendel: The Man, The Monk, The Scientist, Anderson Eric, and Anderson Nancy, MD magazine, June 04 2012
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