Op Boorcs, Ar<T AND PsctPLE PRAGUE'SSTRAHOV MONASTERY AND LIBRARY EASTERNEUROPE'S OLDEST CULTURALCENTER Althoughit's not theCzech national library, over the centuriesthe librarians of theStrahov have worked diligently topreserve Czech cultural awareness \t .ii a. I BY Lucv GoRr>.cN Gothicstyle. with lateradditions in the seventeentlland ei-eh- tecnthcenturies. All the while its enterprisingrnonks assidu- thought an appropriatesequel in "Of Books. Art. and ously new collectionsof old books. -uathered People"to rrry intervicw last rnonthwith His Errrincnce P6terCardinal Erdo would be the sttlry of Pruguc'sStra- Trials by F-ire hov Monastery.Perched high aboveMalii Strana.or the once By clint of geography.Bohenria has unavoidablybc-en at independent"Lesser Town" of Praguc. with its baroclue the ccnterof Europc's powcr struggles.The narrtc"Strahrtr'." palacesand present-claytilreign ernbassiesand artisans.thc frortril Boherrrianword firr "guard." irnplics tlris turbulence. white-stucco.onion-turreted Strahov dorrinates Prague's At thc'cnd ot'theThirty Years'War in l6-lu. a Finnishrcg- skyline. More important.this clusterof irnposingbuildings inrentof thc SwedishArrny looted lc) casesof nranttscripts on the stec-papproach to PragueCastle anclthe rlagniticent anclprints frorrrthc library. selling sollte ort thcir way honte Cothic St. Vitus Cathech'alhas endured since the lvliddlc and clepositingtlre rcst in Finland's univcrsity library in Ages as Eastc'rnEurope's rrrostimportant cultural center.Its Turku.Still latcr.French ancl Prussian scllclicrs ransackcd thc tlrnous library is tltc olclestin continuoususc and by firr tlre Strahor,. richcstin thc'Czech Re'public. Nevc'rthc'lcss.ove'r thc centuries.succec-cling abbots antl Vladislav II. rulcr of Bohemia. tbuncledthc rnonustc-ry librarianshave managed to rebuildits collcctirlns.acld ornatc antl librarv in ll-13 ti)r an austcrebut progressivencw rc-li- works ol' art. anclmaneuvcr arclund the political pr'rils that gious order. tbundcd in ll20 and known as the Prcrnon- hlve atllictecla turtrulttrousc()r.nttrv otien at war with itsell-tlr stratensiuns-arrd it has bccn a working monustcryalntost othc'rs.For exarnple.thc Strahovcscapcd King JtlscplrI['s alwa-vsever since.Altlrough destroyedby lire in l25ll ancl lTtji dissolutionol'the nronastL-r'iesby openingits httlclings again during a Hussitere'r,olt in I-120.it was rebuilt irr thc' to scholarstirr scientiflc rcsearclr.Evictc'd bv thc Ctltttttttt- 52 INSIDETHE V.,\TICAN NOVEMbCT2006 nistsfor four decadesin the 20th i walnut bookshelvesreaching l5 cenrurv,members .f *:: .n,,,,'n., metersup to a ceiling adorned in 1991,:1", and rhe,,,#;tilsJls,,:J,ts[to# with a fresco dominatedby a astery returned : Dai i;; 9 AM to 5 pM. todaythe Strahov is onceagain a : 'ReRularadmission: 8O crowns (US $2.40 at celestialblue. At its center,the working monastery,a growing curreniexchangerates), with half-pricediscounts holdersof virtueshover around ' and the el^derlya library and the site of ttr-etvtusel ' availableAmonsfor. children, students., . Providence. The Struggle of umof czech Literarur- Jl"riLillr,oirilnr:i'i?f,":'gTf?in:tMemkindto Know RealWisdomis Althoughth" pui'li" *oy : lffir?:!t, MarieLouise, the wifeof Napoteont, the last work of one of the most importantViennese painters of gaze upon many of its most , t-oril Nelsonand Lady Hamilton,the writers llja spectaculardisplays of art and Erenburgand Jean-PiulSartre, and the world's the time, the already7O-year-old literature only from cordoned : first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin' Franz A. Maulbertsch(1724- doorways,even thesedistant 1796),who completedit two views aresplendid. yearsbefore his death.The mon- The Theologicaland Philo- umentalwork ref'lectsthe artist's sophicalHalls or readingrooms attemptat a reconciliationof the both shine as masterpiecesof declineof the baroquewith the the baroque.In the barrel-vault- adventof bourgeoisClassicisrn ed TheologicalHall, illuminat- and depictsself-improvement ed manuscripts sit open on throughphilosophy and science. lecterns,and religiousbooks The StrahovLibrary houses bound in vellum and gitded about200,000 volumes. The his- leatherline the walls. Others torical collections- approxi- more hereticalin outlook have mately 130,000 volumes - count3,000 manuscripts, 2,500 incunabula(printed books ttom archedhall wasdesigned in rc . _@J 1::: before 1500) and numerous 167| by Jan Dominik Orsi of mementoeswhich testify to the Orsini, a Praguearchitect of extraordinarycultural ambition Italianorigin who workedat the of the PremonstratensianOrder behestof Abbot JeremyHirn- to collect not only theological haim (1670-79), a leading and religiouswritings, but also scientificworks and equipment, llt'l'*";;"'ffi;;.;I:li il it' im suchas the celestialand terrestri- humani was banned by the al globesin theTheological Hall. Jesuitsbecause of its panthe- Perhapsthe best-knownNor- ism. bertinewas JohannZahn (1631- Fifty years later, when the hall had to be extended in 1707), a German canon who wrote on the camera obscurcr length becauseof the growing numberof books,the ceiling's and who invented an early camera. stucco cartouches were filled in with frescoes by Siard Probably the most valuable manuscriptin the entire col- Nosecky, a member of the monastery.These frescoes,depict- lection is the jewel-studded Strahov Evangeliary with text ing the road to education, study, love of knowledge and dating from the 9th century and with binding and additions books, glorify the preservationof a scholar'sthoughts in his trom later centuries.It is a rare relic that includesfbur illu- works even atter death. Nosecky's selt'-portrait in one recess minations from the Ottonian Renaissanceperiod that wel€ betweenwindows is accompaniedin other recessesby paint- addedlater. Written in Latin on purple parchmentwith gold ings of outstanding mernbers of the Premonstratensian half-uncial letters. its richly illuminated pages relate the Order, professors of the Norbertinum seminary (narned tbr Gospel teachingsof the four Evangelists.The lTth-century the founder of the order, St. Norbert), and Strahov abbots. binding is of Czech origin, decoratedwith gilded bronzefig- ures,enamel and crystal. Thriving on Adversity At the end of the lSth century, as a tribute to Emperor Lessons of History Joseph II fbr preserving the Strahov, another progressive The Jehrloclt Cltronicle. written in 1220 in Latin on abbot. Vaclav Mayer, ordered another hall to be built and parchmentby Jahrloch,the abbot of Milevsko, is anotherof decorated. The shrewd cleric, who had been transf'erredto the library's priceless codices. The only original Czech Prague atter his monastery in Moravia had been abolished, chronicleknown to survive from the Middle Ages, it includes managedto salvagenot only all the monastery'sbooks but the Chntnicle oJ'Bohentia, the Hi.storio Anglorutn by Bede. also its impressivecasings and shelvesfor the Strahov.The and the description of Frederick Barbarossa'sMilanese gorgeousPhilosophical Hall's collectionsof philosophy.his- expeditionby Ansbertus.A descriptionof anotherearly peri- tory. philology, geography.natural sciences,astronomy. and od in the history of Bohemia. the Clrrctricle of Vicentius, mathematicsline heavily gold-platedand beautitully carved canon of Prague,is included with that of Jahrloch. November2006 INSIDETHE VATICAN 55 Ol' thc Strahor"s f.-5(X) Wno Anerne PReruorusrRATENsrANs?onc rvith so volatilc il pilst. i ttt'trtrttlttrltt,sixlccrt arc itt slroulclltold so ltrlnr inrpor- ('zcclr.scvcn ol'u'hiclt crist The Premonstratensians,also known as the Norbertines tant u'orks ol' non-Catltolic onlt, ilt ()nc cop_\'. 7'lrr, and in Englandas the WhiteCanons (from the colorof their Iitcraturc. Thc prc'r'iousl1, (-lr nttti t'Ia ol 7-rrt.t',consicl- habit),are a religiousorder of Augustiancanons founded at tncrtl.ioncclKrrlicc Biblc. lirr Pr6montr6near Laon in 1120by St. Norbert,afterwards crcrl b_r,rnost histolians [() archbishopof Magdeburg.Norbertine priests are designated crarnplc. trunslulcd ancl bc lhc lll'st book printcclin by "O.Praeml'following their names. pt'intcclin Czcclr b_r,tlrc Unit-v lJohcrrril. c. IJ(rS. is u St.Norbert had madevarious efforts to introducea strict ol'thc Czcch Brcthrcn in thc Czechr'()nrlncc' l.ry Guickr clc form of canonicallife in variouscommunities in Germany.In lirrtrcss torln ol'Kalice lilr la Crrllonrr.()lhcr itrt'trtrttbrt- I 120he wasworking in the dioceseof Laon;there in an iso- lh<lsc sccking thc u'orcl ol' place, in /rrirrcluclc thc Krulicc Biblc. lated calledPr6montr6, Aisne,he and l3 compan- Gocl ll'ottt a u,rittc-ns()r-rrcc ions establisheda monasteryto be the cradleof a new lurtcxtnrorclinarv lr"rnsl'rl'orr order. nrlhcr than ll'orn u lt'ligious ol' thc Biblc into (-zcclr: ir Theyfollowed the so-calledRule of St.Augustine but with hicrarchr,.scrvccl in li.rtcrccn- l)assionll rclatirtg thc-sul- supplementaryextremely severe statutes. Iurics us ir ['reautil'ulsarnplc- l'crings ol'sirints anrl rnar- Norbertwas a goodfriend of St.Bernard of Clairvauxand ol'thc Czcch larrgulgc lirl- tvrs: il c()r'npilationol- ltgttr- he was largelyinfluenced by the Cistercianideals as to both Iorving a corrccttc-clof'l'icial the manner life the governmentof his order.But as tltt ot'livcs ol'tltc of and rttrrttt, Premonstratensianswere not monksbut canonsregular, atlackon thc nativctonquc. saints: Acsol'l's l'ul'rlc's.a their work was preachingand the exerciseof the pastoral Inclccd.thc Strahov I-ih- Lucidarius ()r' [.rook rllr office,and theyserved a largenumber