Early medieval sacral architecture in the Písek region- revision and analysis

Písecko is one of the South Bohemian regions where considerable building activity was carried out in the early Middle Ages. At that time, the efforts to colonise the uninhabited and vast forested landscape gave rise to several important cultural centres. The oldest of these emerged at the end of the 12th century in Milevsko. The influential Grand Duke George founded a monastery here, which he filled with a convent of the Premonstratensian Order. There was a workshop at the monastery, which influenced the construction activity of the surrounding area. As a result, a number of rural churches were built in the landscape, the morphology of which is often indicative of the participation of the workshop. Around the middle of the 13th century, another important cultural centre appeared in southern Bohemia, connected with the spread of monarchical power and the founding activities of King Přemysl Otakar II. The founding of the town of Písek and the major expansion of Zvíkov Castle required the construction of another South Bohemian building workshop, referred to in literature as the Písek-Zvíkov workshop. Its influence also reached the area around Milevsko, where the churches analysed and mapped in this thesis are located in the form of a catalogue. It will also include a review of the issue of the so-called Písek-Zvíkov workshop as it was formulated in Czech research more than forty years ago. On the basis of building-historical research and formal analysis of the buildings, the question of the influence of the building workshops should be clarified and an attempt should be made to place the South Bohemian buildings in a corresponding Central European context