Project

Via Benedictina route began to exist in 2014 as part of the project „Via Benedictina – Benedictine heritage in Central Europe”, co-financed by the Visegrad Fund.

The route comprises historical Benedictine monasteries in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. There are both active monasteries and places with material remnants of old monasteries, currently having a different function (museums, cultural sites, parishes, etc.)

We hope that the website will be helpful for tourists travelling in Central Europe and looking for new interesting places. At the same time we hope that with the new articles and information that we will keep adding the website will become an interesting source of information for people interested in the Benedictine heritage.

Why the Benedictine route in Central Europe?

It is not a coincidence that these are the oldest monasteries in every Visegrad country. Benedictines played a very important role in the first stages of forming the Czech, Polish and Hungarian statehood, connected with the christianisation processes of these countries. They were present at dukes' and kings' courts, introduced the new skills of writing and reading, established the first monasteries, which were a model of Romanesque architecture as well as animal breeding, farming and craftsmen workshops. Through the ages the monasteries have not only been important spiritual centres but also centres of culture. Some monasteries survived and in case of the others only few material traces of their former glory remained. Both are an interesting destination for tourists interested in cultural tourism (with respect to the heritage and the religion). Therefore, we would like to encourage you to enter the route and discover the rich history of Central Europe.

Partners of the project are:

The Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec (Poland)

Agency for Broumov Region Development (Czech Republic)

Central European University in Budapest (Hungary)

Archabbey of Pannonhalma (Hungary)

Centre for Medieval Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Czech Republic)

Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia)

Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (Poland)

Research supervisors:

Rastislav Kožiak, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, 

Mail: rastislav.koziak@umb.sk

József Laszlovszky, Central European University in Budapest 

Mail: laszlovj@ceu.hu

dr Marcin Szyma, Marta Graczyńska and Monika Kamińska, Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow

Dušan Foltýn, Centre for Medieval Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,

Mail: foltyn@flu.cas.cz