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Nature trail Melice
St. Benedict Church
St. Benedict Church
The original church was pulled down due to numerous rifts in the walls. In the vicinity of the presentday Roman Catholic parish church, built in 1900, there used to be a Benedictine convent between 1340 and 1588.
Rotunda of St. Pantaleon
Behind the church we find ruins of a rotunda, which was built in Romanesque style in 1140 by Jindřich Zdík, the Bishop of Olomouc. The rotunda was dedicated to St. Pantaleon, a legendary Byzantine healer and martyr. It is one of a few ecclesiastical sanctuaries dedicated to a Byzantine saint in the country. A rare Byzantine pectoral cross was found here.
St. Anna’s Chapel
This chapel was built around 1354. Anna, sister of Charles IV, was the third Abbess of the local convent. She was authorized to act as a substitute of the Bishop of Olomouc and was thus entitled to crown Czech queens. Famous pilgrimages are made annually on Anna’s saint’s day on July 26.
St. Benedict Convent
Theconventwasfoundedin1340byBishopJohnVII,called Volek, who was an illegitimate son of Czech king Wenceslas II and as such had a lot of power over and influence on the convent.
Jan VII., called Volek
The convent was co-founded by Charles IV, a later the Holy Roman Emperor. Abbesses Elizabeth and Anna came from the royal family as well. The convent was an elite institution established for the purpose of educating young ladies from aristocratic families. It was an only institution of this kind in Moravia and it was granted the same privileges as St. George Convent at Prague Castle. St. Benedict Convent enjoyed this period of prosperity until 1425, when it was severely devastated by the Hussite army of Prokop Holý. The convent and its inhabitants were infamous for misbehavior and mismanagement. Neither Bishop Marek was able to improve this desperate situation; therefore, the convent was dissolved in 1588.
Contact
Obce Pustiměř a Zelená Hora
Antonín Grmela
Tel.:605 803 675
e-mail:info@grmelovi.cz
http://grmelovi.cz
