The Rajhrad Abbey

History of the closter

In Rajhrad there is the oldest cloister in the area of Moravia. It has been established by Prince Břetislav in 1084. In 1813 it was established as The Rajhrad Abbey.

First notes about contemporary Rajhrad originate from 13. century. Since 14. century beer has been produced in Rajhrad. In 1465 vineyard was planted out and later it became a symbol of the Rajhrad emblem.

Till the end of the 17. century the cloister had Romanesque look. Because of the bad condition it was rebuilt. Two new towers were added. Between 1721 and 1730 the cloister was rebuilt again according to G. Santni-Aichle´s project.

The K Action - leaded by the comunistic party in 1950 - stopped function of the holy orders in Czechoslovakia. The comunistic party attacked the cloister and occupied it. They wanted to close Rajhrad church as well, but thank the rural people they didn´t manage to abolish the tradition.
In 1990 the cloister was given back to the order of the benedictines. It was in terrible condition.

Living in the cloister

The first monks were hard working (second part of the duty of the order : Ora et labora! labora = work). They cleared the woods, or worked as joiners. They taught religious education, history and philology and they translated books. The monks collected paintings by the famous authors, such as Rembrandt, Van Dyk etc. Most of the paintings were copies. They also owned mostrances, reliquaries, chalices and other artifacts.

The monasterial library

The library has existed since the establishment of the cloister. It contained lectionaries (used for reading during the mess) and missals (contain prayers, that priest says).

During the 13. century the cloister was devastated by Tartars and the Hapsburg army.

Martyrologium Adonis - the oldest book of Rajhrad . In 14. century the library was enriched of gradual and antiphonary. In 15. century the cloister was visited by Marek of Broumov - accuser of John Huss.

Viktor Schlossar - librarian, the library was visited by Josef Dobrovský and František Palacký, when he kept it.

After the WW1 the library got over thousand Russian and other Slavonic books and magazines thank Augustin Vazal. During the WW2 the library was damaged. In 1950 it had to be reconstructed. Nowadays the library contains 65 000 books.

St. Peter´s and St. Paul´s cathedral

St. Peter´s and St. Paul´s cathedralis situated on the place, where once a Romanesque cathedral was. Its construction began in spring of 1722. In the frontage there were two impressive towers, which were 65 meters high. Today these towers don’t exist. New towers were built in 1942.

During the reconstruction of the cloister the towers tumbled because of a strong storm and wind. A gable between the towers is decorated by the mosaic of Immaculate Conception.
The cathedral has one nave; the windows are very high up. The vault of the nave has four domes, which are more than 30 meters high. The interior of the cathedral is decorated by many statues and frescos with biblical motifs. In the nave there are eight side altars. Around the cloister there are beautiful gardens and alleys.

The cloister nowadays

After 1950 this monumental building was very omitted. Cloisters are in very bad condition. In 1997 monks came again into the cloister and slow reconstruction began. The cloister is regularly used for divine services. Outhouses of the cloister are not in good condition. About 80 % of them are unusable, because they are only ruins. The gardens are devastated, the only care given them, is cutting of the grass.

The cloister has a big significance, nevertheless it is still forgotten. In Rajhrad there was found an organization called Ora et Labora, which makes an effort for reconstruction of the cloister.