Pivoňský klášter Monastery

The Pivoň Monastery stands in the village of Pivoň near Mnichov in the Domažlice district. The Augustinians founded it in the second half of the thirteenth century, though the first written mention of it dates from 1379. The first monks came here from the monastery of Saint William in Bavaria.

The monastery suffered heavy losses several times. In 1573 it burned down and reconstruction did not begin until 1595. During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes plundered it in 1641 and 1648. Then came the Baroque period. In 1666 a new refectory was built and in 1686 the monastery church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary received its Baroque appearance. The present-day look of the complex is mainly the result of extensive reconstruction from 1733. At that time the monastery consisted of three courtyards connected by gates. One served agricultural purposes, the church stood in the second, and the monastery itself was in the third. Its single-story buildings surrounded a cloister courtyard with a fountain in the middle. The Augustinians of Pivoň also founded a castle in Ždánov between 1728 and 1731.

In 1787 Emperor Joseph II dissolved the monastery. The property, valued at 141 thousand gold coins, was taken over by the religious fund. In 1800 it was bought at auction by Prague lawyer Leonard Stöhr, who converted the buildings into a four-winged château with thirty rooms. In 1843 it was acquired by Leopold Felix of Thun-Hohenstein and attached to the Poběžovice estate. From 1864 to 1945 it belonged to the Coudenhove-Kalergi family of counts. During the First Republic it housed a Czech school and a gendarmerie station and there were also several apartments there.

After 1948 the buildings were used by the unified agricultural cooperative and the church was converted into a granary. On the tower there was a border guard observation post. In 1953 one of the border guards threw down a cigarette butt and caused a fire in the entire complex. The church walls were secured that same year. The church received a new roof and restored tower only at the turn of the seventies and eighties. After 1990 the Aurelius association began repairs and has owned the complex since 2002, though the work was not completed. As of July 1, 2023, the former monastery is a national cultural monument.

The church is a single-nave building with a flat chancel and a two-story tower on the south side. The western façade ends with a high triangular gable with three elliptical windows stacked above each other. The stone portal beneath it bears the date 1691 and the monogram of Christ JHS, that is Jesus, Savior of men. On the gable is the monastery's coat of arms, a flaming heart beneath a mitre and an abbot's crosier.