Sedletz Monastery Locations

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The Sedletz Monastery used to be the oldest Cistercian abbey in the Czech Kingdom. Founded by the Bavarian Abbot Gerlach in 1142 , it was later abandoned and reoccupied many times in its history, either due to wars or poor financial situations.
In 1421, it was burnt down by the Hussites, only the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist survived. After the end of the war, only a few monks returned and it remained in this dismal state until the 17th century. In 1783, the monastery was completely abolished by an imperial decree.
The cemetery church of All Saints with the adjacent burial ground was originally part of the monastery, but later it began to serve as the municipal cemetery for Kuttenberg, because as records showed, burials were taking place there long before the arrival of the monks. The cemetery was at its busiest during wars and plague epidemics. In 1318 alone, 30,000 dead were buried there, and another 10,000 during the Hussite wars.
The site is shrouded in many legends. The most famous one states that the abbot of the Heidenreich Monastery brought a handful of dirt from Jerusalem on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he then scattered around the cemetery and the ossuary. Thus, the cemetery ground became sacred and highly sought after, not only by the people of Kuttenberg, but also by pilgrims and those wishing to be buried there from all over Bohemia and neighbouring regions. Who wouldn’t want to rest in the ground where Jesus Christ himself once walked?
Today, a cigarette factory is located on the site of the former monastery.

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