A Medieval Church Hidden in a Later Convent

Begin where the layers are unusually easy to miss. St Catherine’s Church belonged to a Dominican convent before the end of the thirteenth century, but the complex later passed to the Ursulines after the Dominican community was dissolved in the eighteenth century. Fire, rebuilding and institutional change altered what surrounds the church, yet Gothic fabric survived and was consciously revealed again in the twentieth century. This is a good opening move for Olomouc: do not ask only “what style is this?” Ask who controlled the place, who replaced them, and which pieces endured those transfers. From the street, the modest scale can make it easy to walk past. Instead, use the portal and Gothic proportions as evidence that the city’s religious geography is older than its Baroque surface suggests.