Cistercian Monastery in Novy Dvur –an Expression of Restraint
In 1991, ten young men left what was then Czechoslovakia to follow their religious convictions and enter the Cistercian Abbey of Sept-Fons in Burgundy. By the end of the 90s, the number of monks there had increased to 75, which allowed a new Cistercian monastery to be founded in Novy Dvur, west of Prague, and the return of the Czech monks to their home. The new complex was to be erected on a 250-acre estate with dilapidated buildings that had been unoccupied for more than 40 years. The assignment comprised the construction of a church, a cloister, an infirmary, a scriptorium, chapter house, kitchen and refectory, as well as classrooms and monks’ cells.
