The Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul is one of the dominating features of the city of Brno. The origins of the church on Petrov dates back to the 1170s. In the Gothic period the church was rebuilt several times. In one of the reconstructions, around 1500, the original consecration to St. Peter was added to by the consecration to St. Paul. In 1296 a collegiate chapter was established at the church. During the Thirty Years’ War the church burnt down and was newly built in two Baroque periods, 1651-52 and 1743-46. When Pope Pius VI confirmed the establishing of the Brno diocese in 1777, the Church of St. Peter and Paul was promoted to a cathedral.
The cathedral had 21 altars at the end of the 15th century. The cathedral was damaged in the year 1643 during the Swedish siege, and was burned down. Between 1743 and 1748 the aisle was re-designed into the shape which it has today, according to the design of Mořic Grimm. The chancel was re-gothicized at the end of the 19th century. The overall reconstruction was finished by Viennese architect August Kirstein in the year 1909, when the cathedral received two towers, and other civil adjustments were implemented. Among the decorations inside the church, you cannot overlook the statue of Madonna and child which dates from around the 1300’s, a late Gothic pieta, Baroque altars and a rostrum.
Apart from the cathedral interior visitors may see the Romanesque-Gothic crypt with foundations of the original church. In the treasury room there is an exhibition of vestments, monstrances and other liturgical articles. Visitors also like to climb the cathedral steeples to have a view of the city. The diocese museum houses an interesting exhibition of Vita Christi (Christ’s life).
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.