Klokoty Monastery, Pilgrimage monastery in Klokoty, Tábor, Czech Republic

Klokoty Monastery sits on a steep slope above the Lužnice River, housing a Baroque church with adjoining cloisters. The complex combines a double cross layout and spreads across several levels of the hillside.

A fortress stood on this hill in the 13th century, and a small pilgrimage church was first documented in 1361. Jan Žižka had it destroyed in 1421 and ordered about 50 Picards burned. Spanish Benedictines from Emauzy bought Klokoty in 1679 for 4,000 groschen; construction of the Baroque complex, possibly designed by Jan Blažej Santini-Aichl, was completed by the town of Tábor in 1743.

The pilgrimage church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, linked to an apparition said to have occurred 700 m away, where a small chapel with a spring now stands; a green hiking trail leads there from the church. Seven paintings of scenes from Mary's life, dated 1700, hang in the ambulatory chapels.

The complex stands on a raised site above the Lužnice, with the church, ambulatory, residence and cemetery on uneven ground. A green-marked hiking trail leads from the church about 700 m to the chapel with the spring. The pilgrimage church is cared for by the Oblate missionaries.

The ambulatory's corner chapels are octagonal, each topped by a Baroque dome, and are dedicated to St Adalbert, St Lawrence, St Anne and the Rosary. In the west ambulatory stands the Chapel of St John of Nepomuk with a stucco ceiling; seven paintings of scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, dated 1700, hang in these rooms.