Locus Fratrum – Architecture of Observant Franciscan Monasteries in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Upper Lusatia in the Late Middle Ages

The book Locus Fratrum is the first attempt at a systematic analysis of the architecture and building practice of the last major medieval monastic order. The core of the book lies in chapters monitoring the history and building development of the individual monasteries in the territory of the Bohemian monastic province. The catalogue part is preceded by chapters summarizing the historical context of the Observant Franciscans’ activities in the second half of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries, during which the Observants experienced both rise and fall. The history of the order is followed by an exposition on the rules governing the foundation of convents, the monastic rules limiting artwork and above all the character of the order’s architecture.