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P729
dia. 44cm
SOLD
P731
dia: 76cm, height: 52cm
Price : 418€
P730
dia. 63cm
Price : 246€
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Floor Tiles from the Early Middle Ages in Bohemia
The Benedictine monastery at Ostrov, founded by Boleslav II and III just before the year 1000, specialized in manufacturing building earthenware. Situated on an island in the Vltava River opposite today’s settlement of Davle, it was badly damaged by fires, floods and a number of Hussite battles. It was finally completely destroyed by a heavy flood in 1529 and subsequently not rebuilt.
Following several archaeological research studies [last being in 1970] it was discovered that the monastery residents of the 12th and 13th century also produced decorated terracotta floor tiles along with other ceramic building materials. To date, it is the only known workshop from the early Middle Ages in Central Europe producing flooring of this kind. The uniqueness lies in its relief decoration.
Over the course of 100 years the workshop inside the monastery manufactured relief-decorated tiles not only for their own use but also for sale. This is why tiles produced from the same mould can be found in many places [Prague, Plzeň, Olomouc].
In the early stages of production the tile motifs predominately represented religious symbols – the fight between good and evil. These motifs were bordered with a floral decoration. Over time the design gradually changed and the religious symbols and floral borders were replaced bit by bit with floral decorations. These were later replaced by a geometric decoration. The end of decorated terracotta tile manufacture in the Ostrov monastery is connected with a violent invasion of the island by Brandenburg soldiers in 1278
- the originals are housed in museums in Prague, Olomouc, Plzeň, Koměříž
We can manufacture decorated floor tiles in sizes according to customer’s requirements.
When ordering please state the version of the floor decoration requested:
- archaeological version / with cracks, e.g. : P731/
- original floor version /without cracks, e.g. : P729/
Detail TILES |
