Basilica of our Lady of the Assumption (Brno, Czech Republic)
Basilica of our Lady of the Assumption
The Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady in Old Brno Abbey is a high Gothic, monumental convent temple. 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. It is the best preserved stylistically coherent and unified temple in Lands of Bohemian crown.
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“ in baldachin form made in Augsburg and erected when the icon of the Black Madonna was crowned in 1736. At the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady a pilgrimage is held every year on August 15 in the basilica to worhip her as the Protector of the city of Brno.