Getting round Znojmo and its environs  

In the first half of the 13^th century in front of Znojmo Castle, King of Bohemia Ottokar I founded a monastery of the Minorites (Ordo Fratrum Minorum). Its buildings including the beautiful 13^th century cloister now belong to the South Moravian Museum.  Some decades after that, the monastery was extended: where now stands Business Academy, the Convent of St Clare’s Sisters (Clarisses) was founded, and both those religious institutions shared one church – the Virgin Mary Church. From 1279 to 1296, when the Czech lands were going through a tough period of instability after the tragic Battle on the Marchfeld, the corpse of Bohemian King Ottokar II (who died in the battle) lay buried in the crypt of the Minorite church in Znojmo. In 1307 the Minorite abbot of Znojmo hosted King of Bohemia Rudolf I and his father Holy Roman King Albert I inside the monastery walls. After the great fire of 1494 and the onset of Lutheranism the monastery declined. In 1534, the almost empty monastery buildings were re-occupied by the Franciscans who moved in from a small monastery (now hospital) outside the city walls, below the Vienna Gate. At the beginning of 17^th century the Franciscan monastery saw meetings of the Moravian Diet. However, Emperor Joseph II, thinking them “redundant”, closed down both the Franciscan Monastery and the Clarisse Convent in the 1780s. The Virgin Mary Church was demolished in 1840, so now we can admire only remnants of its walls and pillars.