The dense nature of the forest and the protection it offered was part of its attraction to monks, whose lives were hard and focused on prayer. But this also made the establishment of a monastery difficult. After being officially founded in 1252, the Cistercian monks who founded the monastery pictured here were still living in log houses in 1300 while trying to build a stone church.
Though the Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk was the pinnacle of Santini’s work here, it is not the only thing he did. He transformed the entire complex, including the prelate’s residence, a cemetery, a building for housing the monastery’s livestock and the Basilica Virgin Mary Assumption Church.
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