Plasy Monastery Premises
The Former cistercian Abbey of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
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The summer ticket office and visitor facilities (A).
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The convent (2) is a residential building designed for the needs of monks. The High Baroque form of this building is the work of the architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. It was constructed between 1711 and 1740 on the site where the convent had stood since the Middle Ages; the present one, however, is much larger than its predecessors. Prominent artists of that time – Santini, Dientzenhoffer, Braun, Pink, Müller, Kramolín and others – were involved in the construction and decoration. The new convent was founded in the meander of the Střela River on approximately 5,100 oak piles holding an oak-beam grate which must be constantly underwater.
The Convent is under the administration of the National Heritage Institute and is the part of main tour route of the monastery. The Study Repository of Furniture Funds is located in the interiors of the second floor. -
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1) is the oldest preserved building of the interior monastery complex. Its present form dates back to 1661-1666. The originally Romanesque Basilica has never been significantly rebuilt, making the Plasy monastery church the only preserved pre-Gothic Cistercian sacral structure in Bohemia. The interior of the church dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Its decorations are the work of Škréta, Brandl, Starck, Willmann, Pink, Seeblumer, Raab and others.
The church is administered by the Roman Catholic parish of Plasy through the missionary monastic congregation of the Virgin Mary Immaculate. Its interiors are open to the public during masses and also as part of main tour route of the National Heritage Institute.
- The Baroque granaries (4) are located on the site of the original Přemyslid residence built in the second half of the 13th century. The three-storey Gothic chapel of St. Wenceslas and St. Mary Magdalene is the only part of it that still remains. This unusual sacral structure became the basis used by Jean Baptiste Mathey to complete two wings of the massive Baroque granaries with a clock tower in 1683-1686, where a functional clock dating back to 1686 is located. The granary is managed by the National Heritage Institute and is open to the public as the third route of the tour. At the same time, it serves as an exhibition venue for large-format photographs and as a spiritual site.
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The prelature (3) is a former representative residence in which the abbot received guests and where important negotiations took place. Its present appearance according to the design by Jean Baptist Mathey dates back to 1693-1698. After the former monastery was purchased by Klemens von Metternich, the interior layout of the building was changed to be used as a chateau. However, the Baroque art remained represented in the interior by a grand staircase with a marble railing and a ceiling decorated with a fresco as well as a large abbey hall with parquet floor, marble fireplaces and a rich stucco relief lining the ceiling painting entitled "The Church's Victory over Paganism" on the first floor.
The Prelature is managed by the National Heritage Institute. Its interiors are open to the public as the second tour route "Castel of Metternich". It also houses the ticket office and visitor facilities throughout the year. -
The brewery (5) with a mill underwent a Baroque reconstruction at the end of the 17th century and subsequent renovation after a fire in 1778. The mill wheels powered the milling equipment, an oil press, a grinder and a water pump. A saw was located on the opposite side of the mill race but was not preserved. The buildings of the brewery were transformed due to developments in beer brewing technology. The resulting form of the brewery dates back to the year 1900, when the whole brewery complex was modernised after a fire.
The Brewery is managed by the National Technical Museum and serves as a venue for the Center for Building Heritage, including its administration building. The interiors house an exhibition documenting architecture, its development, building materials and more. -
Since the Middle Ages, the farm courtyard (8) has served as a counterweight to the representative buildings designed for the monks' spiritual life. The courtyard underwent a major structural change in the late 17th and mid-18th centuries. The main farm building was originally a granary and after Baroque reconstruction served as an office for the nobility and living quarters for staff. The rest of the courtyard contained a milk room, stalls, hatcheries, stables, and carriage sheds. The Tower of St. Florian in the upper area of the courtyard served as a bell tower.
The farm courtyard is managed by the National Technical Museum and serves primarily as a service area of the Center for Building Heritage, including craft workshops. The interiors of the lower courtyard house also house the Municipal Library of Plasy. -
The lager cellars (6) were built on the site of an old malt house, which was damaged by a fire in 1894. They are new structures dating to the time of significant reconstruction of the Plasy brewery in 1900. A modern steam-brewery with a separate cooling area including a cooling room, a fermenting cellar and lager cellars was established, as well as a new malt house with a malt kiln. The last building served for soda production.
The lager cellars are managed by the National Technical Museum and are used by the Center for Building Heritage. On the ground floor the private brewery "Knížecí pivovar Plasy" has been established and offers several types of beer brewed on site. -
The Miller’s House (7) is a Classicist building dating back to the 1930s. The building is closely connected to the neighbouring Baroque mill. Under the house is the mouth of the so-called “Royal Tunnel”, the primary water drainage canal of the entire monastery complex, which is connected to the mill race and runs under the convent building.
The house is part of the brewery premises administered by the National Technical Museum. At present it serves as the Municipal Information Centre and organises tours of the former cemetery church of St. Wenceslas, later to become the Tomb of the Metternichs, and of the former Viktor cast iron foundry.