Dolni Kounice

Rosa Coeli was founded around 1183 as a Premonstratensian convent and is one of the oldest women's religious houses in Moravia. The church was rebuilt in high Gothic in the fourteenth century, with tall arcades, window tracery and a polygonal chancel, and the convent was dissolved in 1527, after which the buildings decayed and the roof went. What stands now is a full-height Gothic shell with the arcades, tracery and cloister walls intact and the sky above, which makes the proportions unusually legible. The village around it is a wine village of the Znojmo subregion with rock-cut cellars in the slope, a chateau, and a synagogue of 1652 with an adjoining Jewish quarter and cemetery on the hillside, restored and open, marking a community that lived here for four centuries. Concerts are held in the convent ruin in summer.

What you actually see

• A roofless Gothic church - arcades and tracery to full height, open to the sky.
• A convent of about 1183 - among the oldest women's houses in Moravia.
• A synagogue of 1652 - with the Jewish quarter and hillside cemetery.
• Rock-cut wine cellars - dug into the slope in a working wine village.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The convent is a shell with no roof or interiors, ticketed and seasonal. The synagogue keeps separate limited hours. Concert dates change the access. The village has a few wine cellars open by arrangement.

Nearby

Brno is north-east; the Znojmo wine country runs south.