LOWER (PLAGUE) CEMETERY IN ŽĎÁR NAD SÁZAVOU

LOWER (PLAGUE) CEMETERY IN ŽĎÁR NAD SÁZAVOU
LOWER (PLAGUE) CEMETERY IN ŽĎÁR NAD SÁZAVOU
LOWER (PLAGUE) CEMETERY IN ŽĎÁR NAD SÁZAVOU

As a model overseer, Abbot Vejmluva tried to protect his subjects from the plague. Despite this he needed to have a special cemetery built for the plague’s victims. Santini designed a symbolic building in the shape of a human skull. The centre of the cemetery is completed by a sculpture of the angel of the Last Judgement.

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Zámek 2
59102 Žďár nad Sázavou 2
region Žďár nad Sázavou
49.583729, 15.938973Map
Period: summer

The cemetery was built near the monastery and has three elliptical chapels. The triangular ground plan was meant to symbolize the Holy Trinity. Under Abbot Hennet, this symbolism was disturbed by the addition of a fourth entrance chapel. In the middle of the cemetery there is a statue of the angel of the Last Judgement by Řehoř Theny, which has stood there since the middle of the 18th century. There used to be wooden sculptures in the chapels.

 Photo: Chris Borg