The Church of Our Lady and St. Giles and the Augustinian Monastery

The decanal church is mentioned as a parish church as early as 1280. After the founding of the Augustinian monastery in 1367, the church was rebuilt in the Gothic style. At that time, presumably the most important painter of Gothic panels in Bohemia, the Master of the Třeboň altar, left his unique work here.

As a beacon over the town rises the church’s prismatic tower adapted in the Neo-Gothic style. The dean church of Virgin Mary the Queen and of St. Giles is one of the jewels of Czech Gothic architecture. Its uniqueness lies in the architecturally pure double body of the church. The Gothic vault is carried by four slender pillars and near one of them you can find the lovely sculpture of the Třeboň Madonna made of marlite from around 1390. It inspired the poet Jaroslav Seifert, the Nobel prize winner, to write the poem called Prsten Třeboňské Madoně (The Ring for Třeboň Madonna).

The most precious piece in the church was undisputedly the Gothic panel altarpiece from 1380 by an unknown artist, known as the Master of the Třeboň altarpiece. This supreme piece of middle European Gothic painting is at present the boast of the National Gallery in Prague.

The interior of the church also offers art lovers the frescoes of St. Christopher, the apostles and the Last Judgement scene. The painting on the main altar with the scene of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Giles is the work of Petr Kecek.

The cloisters, adjoining the northern side of the church, have been preserved with almost intact frescoes. The walls of the cloisters are divided by arcades with rich traceries into the yard with the well.

The St. Barbara Chapel – the so called Sternberg chapel – adjoins the south-western part of the church. The stony brickwork is decorated by plates with the Rosenberg rose and Sternberg star, commemorating the founder Petr Holický of Sternberg and his wife Kateřina of Rosenberg. The little roof over the entrance carries the five-petalled rose and the date 1569.

At the east side of the church there is a cross and the statues of St. John Nepomucene and St. Wenceslas. The southern portal is guarded by the statues of St. Augustine and St. Adalbert and the tympanum of the entrance is decorated by a fresco with the motif of Virgin Mary´s Coronation.