Benediktinský klášter Rajhrad Monastery

The Benediktinský klášter Rajhrad is located in the City Register of Rajhrad on Brno-venkovsk, on the right bank of the Svratky River. It is one of the oldest benedictine institutions in Moravia and remains an important monument to this day. His premises, including the church of St. Peter and Paul, are protected as cultural heritage. In the modern era, the monastery library in 2005 became the basis for the newly founded Memorial of Literature in Moravia.

According to the old records (the so-called Martyr Falsa), the beginnings of the Rahrad monastery are tied to the year 1045, when the Czech Prince Břetslav I. dedicated the monastery of Martyn to the honour of the holy apostles Peter and Paul in an abandoned castle called Rajhrad. Around 1048, the first benedictinis were set up here - counting about ten monks. The preconditions of the existence of an older monastery at this place go far back to the beginning, when the monastery of the Old Slavic Rite was allegedly standing here since the 9th century (the Great Moravian period).

The small community of the first Rahrad benedictines devoted itself to work in the spirit of the "ora et labora" - prayer and work. They worked on the settlement of the surrounding countryside - washing forests, creating new settlements and craft workshops. For example, they operated a brewery and devoted themselves to the nationalisation of fields, hops and vineyards. On the one hand, craft, medicine - they grew medicinal herbs, set up a hospital with a pharmacy and care for the poor. Soon, they founded the Rahrad scriptory, where they copied and created new books, and established a famous monastery school.

The Middle Ages carried themselves for the Rahrad monastery in a sign of alternating bloom and decline. In 1278, an abandoned and burned monastery became the seat of the robbers who made it a looting expedition. The monastery also gave refuge to the monks of the monastery of Vilem, which was abolished by the Czech king Ferdinand I.; the last Wilhelm Abbot Peter died and was buried here in 1541.

The development of the monastic economy allowed, in particular, privileges from great masters and kings. Markrabu Přemysl in 1234 granted the same rights and immunities as the tankers in Velehrad and confirmed their right to the seven-day market. In 1327, the Czech King John of Luxembourg granted the monastery full judicial power and capital law, which the Rahrad benedictini carried out for centuries until the first half of the 18th century.

The monastery was repeatedly damaged. In the 13th century alone, the church had to be repaired three times and re-consecrated after being plundered by robbery raids. Although the monastery became an important institution during the time, its poor location and gradual decline of buildings eventually led to considerations about its reconstruction. Since 1813, the monastery has been a separate abbey. Today it can be visited as a whole protected as a cultural heritage, which tells the story of more than a millennium of Moravian spiritual culture.