Name of Monument:

Svatý Kopeček (“Holy Hill”)

Also known as:

Basilica of the Annunciation at Svatý Kopecek – Basilica Minor

Location:

Svatý Kopeček, near Olomouc, Moravia, Czech Republic

Date:

1629–1633; 1669–1679; 1684; 1722–1732

Artists:

Giovanni Pietro Tencalla (1629 Bissone? – 1702 Vienna?), Giacomo Tencalla, Baldassare Fontana (1661–1733, Chiasso), Quiricho Castelli, Domenico Gagina, Carlo Borsa, Matteo Contessa, Martin Antonín Lublinský (1636 Lesnica – 1690 Olomouc), Johann Spillenberger (1628 Košice – 1679 Engelhartszell), Tobias Pock (1609 Konstanz – 1683 Vienna), Michael Zürn Jr. (1654–1698), Johann Sturmer (1675 Königsberg – 1729 Olomouc), Ludwig Sebastian Kaltner, Paul Troger (1698 Zell, near Welsberg – 1762 Vienna), Jan Kryštof Handke (1694 Janovice u Rýmařova – 1774 Olomouc), Dionysius Friedrich Strauss (1660 Moravská Třebová – 1720 Hradisko), Johann Hagenmüller, Bernard Antonio Fossati, Mikuláš Indegrenz, Josef Winterhalder Sr. (1702 Vöhrenbach – 1769 Vienna), Johann Joseph Wirth (active 1733–1757)

Denomination / Type of monument:

Religious – Pilgrimage Church and residences

Patron(s):

Premonstratensian order

History:

Legend has it that the chapel on the hill was built by Andrýsek, an Olomouc burgher who had a vision of the Virgin Mary. In 1645 the chapel was plundered by the Swedish army. The abbot of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Hradisko asked Bishop Karel II of Lichtenstein for permission to build a new Church of the Annunciation. In 1684, two single-floor residences were added to the sides of the church, the one on the north for priests and that on the south reception halls. The pilgrimage site was visited by Empress Maria Theresa (1748). In 1784 the church was granted the status of “basilica minor”, meaning that pilgrims could receive the same indulgences there as in Sta. Maria Maggiore, Rome.

Description:

The church frontage, with wings for the two residences, lies at the top of a hill rising abruptly over the Olomouc flatlands and dominating the surrounding landscape. The segmented, three-axis frontage of the church protrudes into the surrounding space. The portal is crowned with statues of Generosity, Glory and Hope by J. Winterhalder Sr. (1731); the niches contain statues of St. Stephen (patron saint of the Hradisko Monastery), Sts Augustine and Norbert, patron saints of the Premonstratensian order, and the Virgin Mary of Svatý Kopeček with Child, in the upper section. The residential wings are lined with statues of the Apostles and two Protectors from the Plague. The church vault is covered with organically interconnected stuccos and frescos. In the window lunettes, the Four Ages of Man sing praises to the Virgin Mary. Two oval frescos depict Mary’s Devotion to God and Mary as Protectoress from the Onset of the Devil. The south wing houses several historical halls, such as the Chinese Hall and the festive Andrýsek Hall, with pictures by P. Troger. Behind the church complex are an open semi-circular cloister and a chapel, making up a spacious courtyard.

With a spatially segmented frontage opening onto the countryside, the pilgrimage complex is a typical example of Counter-Reformation architecture. The church vaulting, decorated with spectacular stuccos, is among the largest specimens of the style north of the Alps. The vaulting was created by Italian sculptors and decorators, whose further work had a profound influence on art in Moravia. The complex, equipped by leading artists from Vienna and Olomouc, includes a unique series of artworks from the second-half of 17th century, only a tiny proportion of which have survived in the Czech lands.

How Monument was dated:

Handke’s painting is dated. A print of the high altar, created on the occasion of the coronation of the Marian picture in 1733, gives Fontana as the (concept) artist. Archive sources regarding the building such as contracts, receipts and a chronicle of the Premonstratensian residence have survived.

Special features

Presbytery vaulting

1675–1679

Quiricho Castelli, Domenico Gagina, Carlo Borsa, Matteo Contessa, Martin Antonín Lublinský (1636 Lesnica – 1690 Olomouc).

The stucco decoration is 30 cm deep in places. The designs for the cartouche frescos were created by M. A. Lublinský, an Olomouc canon and artist. The vault frescos symbolise the invocation of the Loreto litanies. The painting of the Holy Trinity above the altar is accompanied by the Celebration of the Lord by the Three Virtues and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Cupola

1675–1679; 1731

Baldassare Fontana (1661–1733, Chiasso), Jan Kryštof Handke (1694 Janovice u Rýmařova – 1774 Olomouc)

The pillars continue in four pendentives with allegories of Europe, Asia, Africa and America (J. K. Handke, 1731); the niches feature statues of the Evangelists. The stucco decoration divides the vaulting into six cartouches, the frescos of which represent Old Testament accounts of Sara, Rebecca, Abigail, Bathsheba, Judith and Ester – prototypes of the Virgin Mary. The upper third of the cartouches contain invocations of the prayer Salve Regina (Steger, 1677). The cupola, centralising the longitudinal building, is crowned with a lantern and a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit.

High altar

1722–1732

Baldassare Fontana (1661–1733, Chiasso), Johannes Spillenberger (1628 Košice – 1679 Engelhartszell), Johann Hagenmüller, Bernard Antonio Fossati, Mikuláš Indegrenz

Fontana, who was acquainted with Bernini’s work, made the rich figurative and decorative components give way to an image of the Virgin Mary Adored. The baldachin is topped with a sculpture of God the Father. Through the interplay of light and colour, and the transition of altar architecture into the stucco decoration of the vault, the baldachin accentuates the centrepiece of this pilgrimage complex.

Chapel of St. Pauline

1736

Paul Troger (1698 Zell, near Welsberg – 1762 Vienna)

Andrýsek’s original chapel stood until 1677 but was pulled down during the course of the construction of the new church. The frescos commemorate the origins of the pilgrimage site. The altarpiece represents the Olomouc patroness whose remains were donated to the Olomouc Jesuits by Pope Gregory XV in 1623. The procession held as part of the transfer of the relics was said to have thwarted the plague.

Chapel of St. Joseph

1681

Tobias Pock (1609 Konstanz – 1683 Vienna)

The altarpiece represents St. Joseph, husband to the Mother of the Lord. The artist, who trained in Swabia, settled in Vienna after a journey to Italy and supplied altarpieces for Moravian churches. The tabernacle and reliquaries were originally part of the high altar. The glass case (1750) contains a wax figurine with relics of St. Liberata, donated by Pope Benedict XIV.

Selected bibliography:

Milan Togner, Jan Kryštof Handke – malířské dílo, Olomouc, 1994.
Zdeněk Kudělka, in Ivo Krsek –­­ Zdeněk Kudělka (ed) –­­ Miloš Stehlík –­­ Josef Válka, Umění baroka na Moravě a ve Slezsku, Prague, 1996, pp. 296, 352, 485.
Jana Oppeltová, Slavnosti a efemérní architektura, in Jiří Kroupa (ed), Dans le miroir des ombres. La Moravie al la age baroque 1670–­­1790, Paris–­­ Rennes–­­Brno, 2002, pp. 148–150.
Martin Pavlíček, Josef Winterhalder st. (1702–1796), Brno, 2005, pp. 56–63.
Pavel Suchánek, K větší cti a slávě. Umění a mecenát opatů kláštera Hradisko v 18. století, Brno, 2007, pp. 217–253.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright images "Královská kan. premonstrátů Strahově": Královská kanonie premonstrátů na Strahově.

Citation of this web page:

Zora Wörgötter " Svatý Kopeček (“Holy Hill”)" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;cz;Mon11_F;16;en

Prepared by: Zora WörgötterZora Wörgötter

SURNAME: Wörgötter
NAME: Zora

AFFILIATION: Moravian Gallery in Brno

TITLE: Museum Curator and Local Co-ordinator

CV:
Zora Wörgötter studied Applied Painting at the Secondary School of Applied Arts, Video Art (Faculty of Fine Arts) at the University of Technology in Brno and Art History and Ethnology (Faculty of Arts) at Masaryk University, Brno. She has worked at the Moravian Gallery since 1997 and was curator of the Ancient Art Collection up until 2008. Specialising in Dutch and Central European painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, she has participated in the preparation of several exhibitions, catalogues and research projects in the Czech Republic and abroad, and published in the Moravian Gallery Bulletin, Opuscula historiae artium, and other journals. She is co-ordinator of the Art History Database www.ahice.net for the Czech Republic.
Copyedited by: Jiří KroupaJiří Kroupa

SURNAME: Kroupa
NAME: Jiří

AFFILIATION: Department of the History of Art (Faculty of Arts) Masaryk
University, Brno

TITLE: Professor

CV:
Professor Jiří Kroupa studied Art History, History and Sociology Masaryk University, Brno. He was a curator at the Kroměříž Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno before joining the staff at Masaryk University in 1988 (Head of the Department 1992–2002; Professor 1999 to present). His particular fields of interest are in the history of architecture, 18th-century cultural history and the methodology of art history. His long list of publications includes an edition on the architect Franz Anton Grimm and an essay “The alchemy of happiness: the Enlightenment in the Moravian context”. He was contributing editor for the volume Dans le miroir des ombres. Moravie a la age baroque. 1670–1790 (2002).
Translation by: Irma Charvátová
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: CZ 16