Lecture Series: Dissolution of Monasteries - Operation K and Operation VK

A three-part lecture series by Mgr. Eva Richtrová, Ph.D. titled "Dissolution of Monasteries - Operation K and Operation VK" examines communist repression against male and female religious orders in 1950 and the dispersal of their cultural heritage.

Both male and female monastic orders and congregations were viewed by the communist regime as particularly dangerous political enemies - their members lived according to strict monastic rules and answered to their own organized structures and ultimately to the Pope. The totalitarian regime therefore made the complete abolition of monastic life its goal: in 1950, the repressive apparatus mobilized to erase monks and nuns as a social group from society and to achieve the propaganda-promoted "useful conversion" of their monasteries. The lectures will show how the state's approach to male and female orders differed and explain how artistic and historical monuments from the monasteries were handled.

1/ Operation K - Dissolution of Male and Female Monasteries and the Fates of Monks and Nuns
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 5:30 PM | Refectory, Monastery Police nad Metují

2/ Changes in the Status of Nuns from Operation K to 1989
Thursday, November 12, 2026 at 5:30 PM | Refectory, Monastery Police nad Metují

3/ Operation VK - The Fates of Artistic, Historical, and Book Collections from Dissolved Monasteries
Thursday, November 26, 2026 at 5:30 PM | Refectory, Monastery Police nad Metují

Admission: 270 CZK for the entire lecture series; tickets can also be purchased individually. More information at https://www.opatstvibroumov.cz/kalendar-akci/