Pavel Beneš – Cistercian Monastic Landscape at Plaská

The cultural landscape shaped by Plasy Monastery creates a mosaic of unique sacred buildings, small monuments, farmsteads, and ponds. The dominant feature and spiritual center of the landscape is Santini's Baroque pilgrimage church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, alongside the former provostry in Mariánská Týnice. The connection between the pilgrimage site and the monastery is formed by the Old Plasy Path, which has connected the two for centuries, enhanced in the Baroque period with statues, leading through the most prominent locations. The Plasy landscape has been designated as a "European Heritage Label" since 2024, along with other Cistercian landscapes in Europe. The theme will be guided by Mgr. et Mgr. Pavel Beneš.

Mgr. et Mgr. Pavel Beneš is an art historian and head of the historical department – Baroque Center under the Museum and Gallery of Northern Plzeň in Mariánská Týnice. The Baroque Center provides a background for professional, publishing, and educational activities, covering a wide range of topics from visual arts to spiritual life and everyday reality of the Baroque era. The landscape is also inextricably linked to the Baroque, and the Baroque Center is part of the international project Cisterscapes - Cistercian Monastic Landscapes, where it acts as a professional guarantor for the Plasy monastic landscape.