Convent of Dominican Sisters in Olomouc

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The inconspicuous convent complex originally owned by the Order of Dominican Sisters, later by the Order of Ursulines, are enclosed by the blocks of houses in the southern part of the historic centre of the city and the convent is one of the most important historic landmarks in Olomouc. The buildings of the convent undergone disturbed architectural history and in the centre of the convent is one of the oldest and most extraordinary gothic buildings in Olomouc – the convent Church of St. Catherine. Also in other parts of the convent buildings was preserved structures from the Middle Ages and Renaissance which was overlay due to the convent reconstruction in the Baroque style. The convent was markedly structurally modified for the last time in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

The life of two orders of nuns which changed the convent complex in the course of time was influenced by operation of many important personalities from the sacred and worldly circle. The beginnings of the convent are connected with the patronage of Wenceslas II, members of the royal family and noble families, and the Pope and Bishop of Olomouc.

The architectural, artistic, and historical aspects of the convent buildings have assessed by a number of researchers, but the scientific assessment of the convent complex has not been determined yet. There are not many research findings by its architectural history, but on the basis of the combination of pictorial and written sources and materials from the preserved structure, it is possible to reconstruct the architectural development of the convent.

The Convent of Dominican Sisters in Olomouc was established in the Polish province and belongs to the oldest convents of Dominican Sisters in Bohemia and Moravia. It was constructed for the Dominican Sisters in the second half of the 13th century, the first information about its existence is from year 1287, when Vojslava of Deblín gave to the convent the patronage rights of the church in Vážany. The convent was constructed to undeveloped area at foot of the Michalský Hill at the southern tip of the city, between city wall and blocks of houses near the marketplace on the present-day Lower Square.

Generally we supposed that the buildings of the convent increased gradually according to their urgency for the life of the convent and its financial possibilities. During the first decades of the existence of their convent the Dominican Sisters enjoyed a good economic background. Supreme period of the convent time was in the 14th century. Although the majority of the convents of Dominican Sisters disappeared after the Hussite Wars, the Dominican Sisters in Olomouc survived without greater calamities and they existed until the deletion of the convent by the reforms of Joseph II and they constructed the Baroque buildings of the convent. In the course of time the convent was affected by several great fires, the fateful damages caused to events of the Thirty Years War and the fire in 1709. The convent was again structurally reconstructed in the middle of the 18th century. The convent was cancelled in year 1782. The buildings got for the use the Order of Ursulines that structurally reconstructed the convent and added some buildings particularly for the operation of school and accommodation. In 1905 a new school building was constructed in the south part of the old convent complex. The structural transformations of the convent complex were finished before the middle of the 19th century by the church interior alterations. The Order of Ursulines was canceled in the fifties of the 20th century and the convent complex is currently used for secular purposes.

At present-day the convent buildings form the complex of buildings around four courts with a garden at the western wall. It is not a unified scheme of buildings and courts, the convent composition was developed by the build-up and spread of the buildings, it was developed asymmetrically. The best well-preserved is the convent church, which the Gothic Architecture was preserved with many original details, especially with the portals and vaults of the long presbytery with the right-angled finalization. It was preserved original segmentation of the interior by the window cornice and truncated support column with capitals, windows with tracery. On the convent buildings stayed well-preserved fragments of their artistic and handicraft decoration and the performed surveys discovered unknown architectural details of the oldest structure.

From the older interior decorating of the convent was preserved only fragments of the church interior, several Baroque sculptures and pictures of saints, Neo-Gothic furniture, and altar architecture.

The convent complex currently almost not used wait on the reconstruction and preservation of the monument.