Church of the Holy Trinity in Klášter
Between 1501 and 1507, a Paulaner monastery was built here. The Paulaner monks had arrived in the area as early as 1491.
In the small village of Klášter, on the road from Nová Bystřice to Slavonice, the Paulaner monastery was constructed between 1501 and 1507. The monks were tasked with finding a place east of the Alps where three healing springs met – and they discovered this very location.
On July 22, 1533, the monastery was burned down by the Anabaptists, but it was rebuilt after 1626. In 1785, Emperor Joseph II dissolved the monastery, and in 1959, it was completely demolished. The Church of the Holy Trinity, however, remained. It was built between 1668 and 1682 on the site of the original church, based on a design by Domenico Orsi.
This unique architectural gem in the region was decorated between 1674 and 1675 with early Baroque stucco by the artist G. B. Cometa. A significant relic of the church was the Tree of Life – a wood carving made from a single piece of wood, created by an unknown artist and completed in 1720. Today, this masterpiece is housed in the Šternberský Palace in Prague.
The church’s main altar is a fully wooden structure, adorned with larger-than-life statues of Czech patron saints and a central painting of the Holy Family with the Holy Trinity. It is the second-highest wooden altar in Central Europe. Beneath the altar, healing springs allegedly converge into a small stream that surfaces near the church as a sacred well. According to legend, the water is known for curing eye ailments.
The church is architecturally unique due to its spatial orientation – the altar faces west so that the three springs can flow directly underneath it before emerging at the sacred well. Nearby, there is also a peat meadow.
Guided tours are organized by the Havlíček family and can be booked in advance at +420 602 703 007, www.novabystrice.cz.
