Wall Paintings in the Rotunda of St. Catherine in Znojmo

Kopie - Bakalářská práce_Louženská Monika.txt ABSTRACT The romanesque rotunda of the St. Catherine in Znojmo is one of the most important monument in Czech Republic and Central Europe. From 1962 it's registered as National Cultural Monument. Its unique murals with uncommon content have been subject of discussions of many specialists for almost two centuries and still haven't been satisfactorily explained. Over the past centuries the colour of the paintings have lost its brightness, but individual elements of the Romanesque style still remain legible. Its verticalism and linearism is related to the European expression of Byzantine - like linear style from around 1100 A.D. Paintings with closest relations to this style were found in Salzburg and Prüfening near Regensburg in second third of the 12th century. The decoration of the rotunda can be divided into two parts. The first is ecclesiastical, the second secular. In the ecclesiastical part belongs christological cycle in the nave of the rotunda (Annunciation of Our Lady, Visitation, Nativity and Annunciation of Shepherds in combination with Joseph's Dream, Adoration of the Magi, Killing of the Innocents and Flight to Egypt), paintings in apse (Majestas Domini in Deesis and figures of 12 apostels in arches) and in cupola (the quartet of Cherubs and..