Capuchin convent with the Church of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary / Kapucínský konvent s kostelem Korunování Panny Marie - Žatec (North-West Bohemia) - Baroque Architecture on Waymarking.com

The complex of the Capuchin convent with Church of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary (Kostel Korunování Panny Marie), built in 1676-1684, is a typical simple and austere early-Baroque Capuchin architecture.

The convent complex consists of a square convent building, the Church of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary and a convent garden. The establishment of the Capuchin convent with the church is due to the townspeople of Zatec, who asked the Capuchin order to establish a convent as early as the early 1670s. As in other similar cases, aristocratic benefactors took care of financing the construction and operation of the convent, here especially Ludmila Eva František Countess of Kolowrat and Maria Sidonia of Varensbach. The construction of the whole complex is simple, strictly subject to the model buildings of the order. The austere square convent building with arcades and an enclosed courtyard was set in an extensive garden, where the monks practiced meditation and which, of course, also had an economic function.

The convent church, built together with the convent, was consecrated in 1683 and a year later the building was completed. The layout of the church corresponds to the usual simple Capuchin scheme. It is a rectangular nave with a rectangular divided presbytery and a chapel on the north side of the nave. The nave is vaulted with a barrel vault with lunettes that rest on flat pilasters. The barrel vault was also used in the presbytery. The main facade is smooth, towerless, terminated by a triangular gable. Above the entrance portal, a stucco relief depicting the stigmatization of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Capuchins were above all good preachers, but they selflessly served the town of Žateceven during the plague epidemics, so the convent was supported by the townspeople and managed to preserve it even during the extensive abolition of monasteries under rule of Emperor Joseph II. Major alterations to the convent complex began in the 1820s and lasted with breaks until the beginning of the 20th century. The convent was abolished by Communist regime in 1950, the buildings then served as a school and then for many years as a retirement home (abolished in the 1980). The convent with the garden is currently the property of the town, its buildings (except repaired church) are in poor condition and are still waiting for meaningful use. The garden was reconstructed and serves to public.

Source: excerpted and translated from Wikipedia and National Heritage Institute portal.