The reconstruction and adjustment of the exhibitions has been completed in the Kladruby monastery, and two routes have been added

Kladruby - The restoration of the Kladruby monastery complex and the adjustment of the exhibitions have been completed. The project titled "Life in the Order" lasted 2.5 years and cost 165 million CZK, supported by the European IROP program. It includes the entire building of the old convent, the first and second floors of the new convent, and the cloister courtyard. From April 1, it will offer two new tour routes. The "Monastic" route focuses on the daily life of the monks, while the "Castle" route traces the fate of the monastery in the 19th to 20th centuries and the fates of the new owners, the princely family of Windischgrätz. Markéta Slabová, spokesperson for the regional office of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ), said this to ČTK. The ceremonial completion of the restoration will be on March 16.

"Part of the monastic tour will also include a unique archaeological find - the remains of a brewery and the newly reconstructed cloister courtyard, where various types of monastery gardens will be presented through diverse planting," she said.

The monument, founded in 1115 by Prince Vladislav I, is a former Benedictine monastery above the Úhlava River. Its dominant feature is the 86-meter-long Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, rebuilt by the famous Czech architect Jan Blažej Santini Aichel in the style of Baroque Gothic. Its dome, at a height of 46 meters, is topped with a gilded Marian crown. The second most significant building in the complex is the New Convent building by Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer. In 1421, the monastery was destroyed by the Hussites and was restored in full during the first to second thirds of the 18th century. The monastery has been a significant religious, economic, and cultural center of the region for centuries.

The main tour route showcases the everyday life of the monks, their accommodation, meals, spiritual life, work, and rest in 13 rooms, in the cloister courtyard, and in the original interior of the church. It includes the cloister corridors, the winter refectory, the changing room, the monk cells, the monastic fraterie (the monks' hall) containing four stations dedicated to the measurement of time, astronomy and cartography, bookbinding, and the cultivation of herbs and their uses, the novice master's study, the chapel, and the novice's classroom, the cloister courtyard of the Old Convent, and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The second route presents the European-renowned Windischgrätz family in three new rooms. It introduces the history of the family, the revolutionary year 1848, the library, and the fates of the monastery in the first half of the 20th century.

The Kladruby monastery was visited by 11,300 people in the last season up to October 30, compared to just under 9,000 the previous year. In the pre-COVID year 2019, there were 13,200 visitors.