Středověký vesnický kostel v Čechách

Abstract

The thesis is focused on the research of medieval rural churches in Bohemia. The existing and currently performed research is usually engaged in the art aspect of churches and their building principles. However, the nowadays trend challenges more the complex view on the church from different perspectives. Such trend is visible in the domestic and at the same time in the foreign specialized publications. The medieval rural churches serve as a historical source which brings important pieces of information that were not considered before and were not deeply investigated. Medieval churches are often described as complete building structures. However, the building during the process of its creation and then the further existence and usage of the building can tell us more interesting information, for example about elite and the way of living in Early Middle Ages. Despite the fact, such point of view lies at the bottom of the research in the Czech Republic. Church represents for sure one of the most significant and in terms of architecture one of the most demanding building in medieval villages. The existing research did not consider more seriously the aspects such as analysis of construction phases of the church, the construction breaks, the potential difficulties with the building completion or the plans and objectives of medieval builders. That is why the fundamental questions of the thesis are the following ones: how the medieval rural church was constructed and how the building functioned at termination of particular phases. The research also aims to investigate the relations between the construction phases and the particular areas (especially the western ones) of the church and for what such specific areas served. At the same time the thesis includes the ambition to theoretically restore such parts of the church that were not preserved. This could enlarge the knowledge of medieval architecture with new perspectives. The construction process interpretation as described above can also explore the unknown aspects of medieval villages and extend options of the historical research. The overall aim of the thesis is to revise and deepen the existing observations about medieval rural churches and bring new perspectives to their research. It includes first of all the description of the selected medieval rural churches in Bohemia and their exact construction method documentation. When done the common elements and features will be derived from the theoretical restoration of the church construction process. The thesis results can contribute to further understanding of medieval architecture and can also serve as resource material for other related branches of science.