Art Up Close: Art for Monasteries

A guided tour with lecturer Alexandra Brabcová as part of the "Art Up Close" series, which focuses on specific parts of the collections and places them in broader historical context.

Medieval monasteries played a crucial role in the development of learning and culture. Church dignitaries and members of ruling and noble families commissioned paintings for them, works that today rank among the most precious surviving monuments of medieval art in Bohemia. The tour will pause at the Madonna of Zbraslav, nine panel paintings from the Vyšebrod cycle, the Emaus Crucifixion, works by the Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece and the Master of the Saint George Altarpiece, as well as panels from a shrine commissioned by the Knights Templar grand master Nicholas Puchner.

Through these works, participants will recall the significance of Cistercian monasteries at Zbraslav and Vyšší Brod, the unique position of the Na Slovanech monastery in Prague's New Town, the presence of Augustinians in Třeboň, and the role of the Saint George monastery at Prague Castle. The tour concludes with a work connected to the Order of the Knights of the Red Star, founded by Saint Agnes of Bohemia and in which she is perpetually venerated.