In the dome, a dove of the Holy Spirit, with the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and the four cherubim alternating around it In the first strip there are figures of Bohemian Přemyslid princes, among them there is a clearly identifiable figure of the first Bohemian king Vratislaus I (II) (he wears a crown with a mitre on his head, The second belt with the Přemyslid cycle (the profession of Přemysl the Ploughman) and eight pagan princes, as mentioned by the chronicler Kosmas, on the sides of the triumphal arch are the figures of the donors, Prince Conrad II of Znojmo and his wife Maria of Serbia. The unique construction of the Romanesque rotunda of Virgin Mary, later of St Catherine, is the only fully preserved sight of the Přemyslid castle in Znojmo founded at the turn of the 11th and 12th century by the duke Conrad I and his son Luitpold as the seat and centre of the Znojmo principality and the main stronghold at the southern border of the Přemyslide Moravia. The older Přemyslid fortified settlement on the hill of St Hippolytus, i.e. Hradiště near Znojmo, probably was not suitable for the demands for protection and representation and therefore it was gradually deserted even though as a religious centre it maintained its position until Znojmo was recognised as a chartered city in the first third of the 13th century. The rotunda was built at a dominant place in the centre of the new castle some time before the year 1100. The archaeological research between 1987 and 1989 and subsequent structural and historical research ruled out the hypotheses of the origin of the building in Great Moravia. During construction of the Znojmo castle, quite a large settlement came to being on its foreground, which became the start of the future town. On its highest hillock, the Church of St Michal was built. The new castle chapel (rotunda) was its subsidiary. The fate of the Znojmo rotunda was also influenced by complicated relationships between the members of the Přemyslid dynasty in the 1st half of the 12th century. The reigning Bohemian duke Soběslav I arranged Marie, daughter of the Serbian rule Uroš and sister of the Hungarian queen, as a bride for Conrad II of Znojmo. On this occasion in 1134, the rotunda was probably refurbished and a new patronage of St Catherine was introduced. Originally, the chapel had been consecrated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, as it is also evidenced in the Gothic inscription in Latin discovered during the restoration of the paintings in 1949 by the artist František Fišer. Starting from the 13th century, the rotunda is marked as the royal chapel, capella regia. The king John of Bohemia authorised Jindřich z Lipé in 1320 to dispose of the patronage for the Church of St Michal and Castle chapel of St Catherine and from Jindřich’s will, the patronage was transferred to the Poor Clares from a monastery in the outer bailey of Znojmo Castle in the same year. In 1555, in the time of religious reformation and decline of the monastery of Poor Clares, the patronage was gained by the town of Znojmo. The rotunda finished as the royal chapel in 1710 when the emperor Joseph I sold the whole front part of Znojmo Castle to the City of Znojmo which opened a brewery with the brewing privilege. In 1861 the brewery was transferred to a private owner (Maural) which completed the unsettled fate of the rotunda. It was used as wood storage, pigsty, a pub with a dance hall and a basket-making workshop. As late as in the 1860s the significance of the rotunda was pointed out by the curator of the former Francis Museum in Brno Moritz Trapp. After some delay, between 1891 and 1893 the paintings were renovated by the Viennese restorer Theofil Melicher. After the Czechoslovak borderland was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1938, Dr Walliser from Vienna worked in the rotunda as a restorer for a short time but after a partial removal of the original of the Přemyslid cycle, he soon finished the work from a politically motivated decision of the former Znojmo town council. Further restoration of this valuable piece of art continued after 1945 by the State Conservation Institute and the sight administration – the South Moravian Museum in Znojmo. Between 1945 and 1949 the extensive restoration work was performed by the artist František Fišer. The next stage was started in 1965 by Znojmo native, the artist Oldřich Míša and it was continued between 1969 and 1973 by the restorers Pavel Lorek, Jaroslav Alt and Alois Martan. The last two preserved the paintings in 1988. Rotunda svaté Kateřiny Rotunda svaté Kateřiny Rotunda svaté Kateřiny Rotunda svaté Kateřiny Rotunda svaté Kateřiny Rotunda svaté Kateřiny The only pine preserved monument of the castle of the Moravian princes of the Premyslid family in Znojmo was founded at the end of the 11th century by Prince Conrad I and his son Litold as representative Marian shrine. Open seasonally Rotunda of St. Catherine, In the grounds of Znojmo Castle, Ulice Hradní 85/5, Znojmo Tel: 515 222 311 FRESKA