The trail of three churches in the centre of Jihlava is not long, but the time span it covers is really intriguing. These contemporary witnesses of the initial period after the town was founded are truly unique in one aspect. The three monumental buildings of different architectural styles were built more or less simultaneously. They clearly show that even in the Middle Ages, architectural style was not strictly bound to a certain period. A significant role was played by the ordering party’s wishes. The rough construction of the three churches was unusually fast, lasting just a few decades. How could that be?
Just before 1240, the location hidden deep in the forests on the Bohemian-Moravian border was very sparsely populated. A discovery of silver ore deposits on the bank of the Jihlava River changed this rapidly. The prospect of a possible fast gain soon attracted a large number of adventurers and mining entrepreneurs, and spontaneously gave rise to a fast-growing mining settlement. With the discovery of silver, the estates passed to the possession of the king, and the establishment of the new town was organised directly by the king’s agency. Within half a century, one of the wealthiest towns in the Kingdom of Bohemia emerged.
The unprecedented speed of its development was caused by the silver-plated certainty of future prosperity. In the early days, two mendicant orders, among others, arrived there, which was rather unusual at the time. Given the conventions of their monastic rule, the livelihood of mendicant monks was largely dependent on charitable donations from town citizens. The mendicants therefore usually settled in developed, richer towns. The prospect of a prominent position probably also motivated the Premonstratensians from the Želiv monastery to obtain the right of patronage over the Jihlava parish church. They fought for this right with the citizens of Jihlava for centuries. In 1400, the dispute even had to be dealt with by the Pope himself.
The urban development in Jihlava seems to have had a certain order from the very beginning. To a certain extent, the terrain of the river promontory delimited the future position of the town borders and fortification. A site on the western side of the town close to the city walls was selected for the establishment of the Minorite monastery. The Dominicans probably came to the town a bit later, and they, too, were assigned a plot adjacent to the town walls for the construction of their monastery, in the north-east side of the town, on the site of an older settlement. The parish church was situated on a promontory at the city walls. The place was well protected by the slope along the Jihlávka River, conveniently close to the town centre.
Both monastic churches, the Minorite and the Dominican, are among the oldest mendicant buildings north of the Alps. They were built just two decades after the deaths of the Order founders – St. Francis and St. Dominic. The distinctively extended presbytery is the unifying element of all three Jihlava churches. At the time when the rules for mendicant buildings were not yet precisely defined, inspiration was probably drawn from the architecture of the Cistercians (who were the kindred spirits of the mendicant orders), in whose churches the presbytery served the monks during Mass, while the public used the adjacent three-aisled nave. The fact that the presbytery in the Jihlava parish church has the same floor plan probably indicates that at the beginning of its construction, the Premonstratensians had the final word.
The Minorite Order, which adhered to austerity and ascetic simplicity, most probably required a building with a very conservative character following the subsiding Romanesque tradition. The Jihlava building is also interesting for the fact that it breaches the Minorite architectural regulations in a few aspects. The spire above the crossing and the vaulting of the three-aisled nave should not be attributed to a rebellion, but rather to the fact that the strict rules were not set until later by the superiors of the Order.
The founding of the Dominican monastery in Jihlava was probably connected with the initiative undertaken by Bruno von Schauenburg, the king’s adviser and bishop of Olomouc. It might have been one of the reasons for the different assignment of the construction, which – given its generous concept – corresponded to the most modern forms of Gothic architecture of the time. The miracle discovery of silver ore deposits certainly helped to significantly improve the Czech king’s confidence.
When the third of the mediaeval churches in Jihlava, the parish Church of St. James (Kostel sv. Jakuba), was still run by the Želiv monastery, a more traditional method of construction was applied initially. With the growing influence of the citizens of Jihlava, the architectural style changed too, trying to make use of the capabilities of the Dominican construction enterprise operating in the town. The high level of local culture manifested itself most clearly in the 14th century during the completion of the church interior and its sculptural decoration.
DN
