Plasy Monastery is an extensive complex of a former Cistercian monastery, later a chateau, situated roughly 20 kilometres north of Plzeň in the Plzeň Region. For centuries it formed a prominent landmark of the surrounding landscape. Historically it belonged to the Rakovník Region, but its influence determined mainly events in the northern part of today's Plzeň Region.[1]
Foundation and medieval development
The monastery was founded in 1144 by Duke Vladislaus II. It was the first Cistercian monastery established on the initiative of a ruler.[1] Its property grew both through gifts and through the work of the monks themselves. Besides dues from subjects, the community lived off a network of farmsteads that the Cistercians themselves farmed or administered. Provisional wooden buildings in the complex were gradually replaced by stone ones.[1]
The development was interrupted by the Hussite Wars. In 1421 the monastery was burned down, the community dispersed, its economic base was plundered and the gradual seizure of estates reduced the domain to a minimum.[1]
Baroque rebuilding
The economy stabilised only after the Thirty Years' War, which started a series of rebuildings lasting until the dissolution of the monastery. In the years 1661 to 1666 Abbot Tengler had the original church rebuilt in the early Baroque style.[1] At the end of the 17th century Abbot Ondřej Trojer, together with the architect Jean Baptiste Mathey, built three-storey granaries with a clock tower and, north of them, a new prelature. He also adapted the farmyard and completely rebuilt the cemetery church of St Wenceslas outside the cloister.[1]
Under Abbot Eugen Tyttl the architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel entered the service of the monastery. Together they began the construction of a new convent building, which was built between 1711 and 1740. The building is complemented by an underground water system, which was necessary because of the marshy ground in the meander of the Střela river.[1] Other artists took part in the decoration and furnishing: the frescoes and paintings were created by Jakub Antonín Pink, František Antonín Müller and Josef Kramolín, the statuary group for the Charles Bridge in Prague was made by Matthias Bernard Braun, and works by Petr Brandl can still be seen in the church. After Santini's death the convent building was completed by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer.[1] At the same time the abbots restored the farmyards so that the monastery had a self-sufficient economy.[1]
Dissolution of the monastery and the chateau
The monastery was dissolved on 9 November 1785 as part of the Josephine reforms. Its property was taken over by the state Religious Fund, which was to finance the transformation of church administration. The monks could move to another monastery in the country or abroad or serve as secular priests in parishes.[1]
In 1826 the former monastery was bought by Chancellor Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, who was interested chiefly in the lands, with an area of approximately 10,000 hectares. The domain thus supplemented his existing Kynžvart estate. Metternich chose Plasy as his place of final rest and is still buried there in the family tomb.[1] Under the chancellor and his descendants Plasy again became an administrative, cultural and industrial centre: an ironworks for casting cast iron arose, beer production was revived and musical and theatrical activity developed.[1]