THE BENEDICTINE MONASTERY IN BŘEVNOV

Archaeological research of the Benedictine Monastery compound was carried out several times. The excavations in the eastern part of the church, which lasted for nearly ten years (starting in 1965), brought the most significant discovery. A layout of a crypt, which was part of the earliest stone monastic church in the mid-11th century, was discovered under the floor. The crypt walls, except the western one, have survived up to the haunches of the vaults. The structure was a hall church divided by two rows of pillars. A shallow apse enclosed the crypt to the east. The crypt floor, originally made of stone slabs, has not survived. Underneath, there were drainage channels which are still slightly visible. The crypt was accessed from the west through passageways built in the northern and southern corners. The newly made entrance into the original crypt today runs through an early Gothic dividing wall that changed the character of the space and apparently was built only after the crypt had lost its liturgical function and was backfilled. Since than, the crypt interior has remained without any modern interventions. The situation outside the structure also contributed to the presentation of the revealed crypt. Under the palm of one of the buried men (undoubtedly Benedictine monks), three denarii of Vladislaus I minted in the years 1120–1125 were found in walled burial graves.