Cistercians Monastery in Plasy

This Monastery consists of the convent, granaries with a clock tower, church, prelature, brewery, and farm courtyard.

The Plasy Monastery was founded by Prince Vladislav II. in 1144. This monastery was inhabited by Cistercians. All the property of the monastery was destroyed during the Hussite Wars in 1421. But the monks didn‘t give up and they rebuilt all of the buildings. Abbot Ondrej Trojer was invited to rebuild the famous architect Jean Baptist Mathey. Mathey launched baroque reconstruction. Trojer’s follower, Evzen Tyttl wanted the Plasy monastery to become the center of education and art. But the renovation wasn’t finished yet. So he hired another famous architect, Jan Blazej Sanitini-Aichel.

Santini is the author of a unique water system under the convent. This convent stands on 5,100 oak piles, which are holding the building. These oak piles need to be constantly underwater. If the piles got in the air, the building would collapse. All parts of the monastery were baroque styled. Monks in the Monastery were trying to provide an independent economy. They grew their own grain which they stored in massive baroque granaries. These granaries are famous for their clock tower. In this tower, you can find a functional clock from 1686.

The Plasy Monastery was abolished in 1785 by Emperor Josef II. due to his reforms. The  monks had to leave Plasy. A few years later, in 1826, the whole property of the Plasy monastery was bought by Austrian Empire Chancellor Klement Václav Lothar Metternich. The main reason for this was that the land amounted to 10,000 hectares. He decided that he wants to be buried in Plasy so he founded a new family’s tomb in the old monastery church.

When Metternich’s family visited Plasy, they used to stay in the prelature building, which was originally the residence of the abbot. Prelature was adapted to the family’s purposes and became a chateau. In 1894 a fire destroyed the second floor of the convent so it had to be rebuilt.

After the Second World War, the Plasy Monastery was nationalized based on the Decree of the President of the Republic. Part of the buildings was rented and the other part was occupied by the state. Many items were sold or they got lost. Monastery served as a library, school, habitation, and offices.

The restoration process started in the 1970s. An important part of the restoration was the water system under the convent. This water system works as it is supposed to but it needs to be watched every day.

For more information about the Pilsen region, from which this chateau comes, click here and here.