Předklášteří
Klášter Porta coeli, 633 02 Předklášteří u Tišnova
Tel. +420 549 410 090
Near Tišnov in Moravia, in the valley of the Svratka, Queen Constance, widow of King Otakar I,
founded in 1233 a Cistercian convent called Porta Coeli, and endowed it with property sufficient to
guarantee its material and spiritual development. The church, consecrated in 1239, has three aisles
and a transept and a rather long sanctuary ending in a five-sided apse.
Despite the austerity of the Cistercian rule, the west front has a portal of a type we associate
with French cathedrals. It is unique in this country. Its iconographical programme shows Christ in
majesty in the mandorla and on either side, bowing in deepest reverence before him are the figures
of the foundress Queen Constance and King Otakar I, with Mary and St. John the Baptist as their
advocates. The four symbols of the evangelists complete the composition. The placing of large
likenesses of the apostles in the jambs of the portal is also exceptional here but typical of French
cathedrals.
The church interior contains valuable Baroque furnishings from after 1764; on the high altar there
is a painting by Franz A. Maulbertsch, sculpture of Andreas Schweigl, and other paintings by the
Jesuit artist Ignaz Raab. The cloister walk is worthy of note because of its early Gothic vaulting,
its capitals, figurative and decorative carvings and also the chapter house of 1260-1270.
