Klášter Doksany / Doksany Convent - Doksany (North Bohemia)
N 50° 27.290 E 014° 09.590
33U E 440358 N 5589540
Vast complex of Praemonstratensian convent in village Doksany belongs among valuable examples of Baroque architecture in Central Bohemia.
Waymark Code: WMPKHY
Location: Ústecký kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 09/14/2015
Views: 34
Vast complex of Praemonstratensian convent in village Doksany belongs among valuable examples of Baroque architecture in Central Bohemia.
The beginning of the convent in Doksany dates back to the year 1144 when it was founded by Princess Gertruda as a Sisters' Convent of the Monastery of Strahov in Prague. Its history was similar to that of many other monasteries: flowering as well as decay, wealth as well as poverty, wars and floods and fires. The regular life was uninterrupted, until 1782 when the convent was abolished by order of Emperor Joseph II. At that time there were 49 sisters in the community. It served as an army hospital for a short time and in the end it was sold to a noble family of Aehrenthals who rebuilt it into a castle. The north wing was used as stab-les and a cowshed. These adaptations together with a gradual decay under the communist regime led to a complete devastation.
The principal architectonical development of the convent is connected with Baroque era. After devastation during Thirty Years' War was originally Romanesque-Gothic medieval convent completely rebuilt in Baroque style (ca 1630-1730) by leading architectes of this period (Giulio Broggio, Giovanni Maderna, Tomáš Haffenecker, Giovanni Domenico Orsi, Jean Baptiste Mathey, Silvestro Carlone Jr.)