Chapel in the building B of Gymnázium Teplice
The chapel of Gymnázium Teplice was built in 2nd half of 19th century. The exterior of the building is quite discreet; however the interior is decorated by unusual original frescoes of so called Beuron School.
As not many people know what Beuron School is, we add a short characteristic first:
Beuron School is a workshop of the monastic order the Benedictines, who originated in the 70s of 19th century in Beuron monastery in South Germany. The monks were occupied with the idea how to purify and uplift church art of the time. As inspiration offered in central Europe was not enough to them and they found extreme beauty and style purity in the art of old Egypt, Greece and Asyria, Beuron decoration looks unusual and oriental at first sight. Orient is reminded mainly by decorative ornaments, which in stripes cover the walls where there are no frescoes with Christian motives. Church spaces decorated by Beuron School remind us most of Byzantian cathedrals. Impression of them is equally monumental and the hierarchy is equally strictly kept: In the centre of all the events on the frescoes is Jesus Christ. All the other events are arranged so that the overall impression will awaken respect and admiration for highly aesthetic and noble organization. A Christian can find symbolism and confidence in the harmony of the World whose cause is the God.
As it is stated above, Beuron School originated in 2nd half 19th century. It was very difficult time for the church, because the then chancellor Bismarck considered (the same as Josef II in Austria) monasteries to be useless institutions and he closed them down. So in 1880 the Benedictines had to leave Beuron. After a few-year pilgrimage they reached Prague, where the then Archbishop Schwarzenberg offered them an asylum in the Monastery of Emauzy. Besides some religious impulses they also brought their unusual art from Beuron and adapted Emauzy in that way. Prague citizens did not want to accept the decoration of Emauzy for quite a long time. Although they knew baroque and gothic cathedrals, they had never seen such colours (dark blue of the interiors of Egyptian pyramids, red-brown of soil, russet of autumnal leaves, red, orange, sky blue and others) in strangely curved ornaments. Moreover frescoes and stripes with ornaments covered the church from the floor up to the vault, which used to be common in Byzantium but not in our geographical areas.
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Interior of the chapel |
After decorating Emauzy cathedral and workshops the monks also adorned other church buildings. Among them the chapel of today's Gymnázium in Teplice (previously the cloister of St. Charles the Boromei).
Since the cathedral of Emauzy became by mistake the target of an air raid during the War and as the totalitarian regime was not in favour with the church, the Teplice chapel is today one of the few preserved monuments of art of this kind in the world.
The chapel also suffered an eventful history: In the 50s of the 20th century it was used as a storehouse of vegetables and later of electric ware. The chapel, even though damaged, survived the intention to establish the school club in its interior. The changes would have vitally interfered with the originality and style purity. In the first version the builders were going even to whitewash the frescoes. Unfortunately, only the valuable stone floor and the stained glass in the windows were damaged. Thanks to initiative of a few students of Gymnázium and tolerance of the Town Council (provided also partly financial support for reconstruction of the windows and floor) you will be able to see this original relic with your own eyes soon. It will not be perfect, because Gymnázium cannot get nearly 2 million crowns for the restoration of the frescoes and we have not found any sponsors yet, but the chapel will definitely be worth seeing.
Not only by chance you remember Alfons Mucha and his Art Nouveau paintings for Art Nouveau draw inspiration from the same sources as Beuron School. Alfons Mucha used to go to inspire himself to Prague Emauzy underground school of the priest Desiderius Lenz the creator of Beuron art.
Lenka Sádlová; Translated by Ilona Malá, June 2004
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Contact
Mailing adress: o.s. Pro arte beuronensis - Společnost pro obnovu kaple Gymnázia Teplice, Čs. dobrovolců 11, 415 01 Teplice.
e-mail: rada@pro-arte.cz.
Bank account: 3235714001/5500