The Minorite Monastery in Bechyně, with its Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary located in the town center, is situated on a rock promontory on the right bank of the Lužnice River. It was founded in the second half of the 13th century but was almost destroyed during the Hussite Wars. The renewed monastery and its current architectural style comes from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The monastery buildings are a beautiful example of the demanding late Gothic style, while the church vaults and cloister passages create the greatest set of diamond vaults in Bohemia. A late Gothic Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary is joined to the monastery. It has two naves with diamond vaults. The presbytery is decorated with ribbed vaulting. The central Baroque chapel at the southern side of the nave comes from 1725. The church houses a valuable equipment from the 18th century with many Renaissance tombs.
Attraction:
Aft er the Thirty Years’ War, the monastery became a signifi cant place of pilgrimage. Three “miraculous” Baroque statues saved after the monastery plundering at the beginning of the War were worshipped. The statues can be seen in the monastery even today.