Franciscan Monastery, Pilsen, Gothic monastery in Vnitřní Město district, Pilsen, Czech Republic

The Franciscan Monastery is a Gothic complex whose Church of the Assumption has a three-nave hall with four bays of cross vaults on plain cylindrical columns and a long rectangular presbytery with a five-sided end. A cloister with cross vaults surrounds a garden, and the Chapel of the Holy Trinity (1611) adjoins the presbytery.

The monastery was established in the late 13th century under King Wenceslaus II and expanded from the city ramparts toward the southeast. Construction and renovations continued over subsequent centuries, reflecting changing styles and needs.

The monastery's most interesting parts now hold the Museum of Christian Art of the Pilsen Diocese. In the church, look for the Gothic Franciscan Madonna of around 1420 above the tabernacle and a relief of Saint Anne from around 1525. The former convent rooms serve the parish of Saint Bartholomew's Cathedral and the diocese.

The monastery sits close to the Main Square and is easily accessible on foot from central Pilsen. The complex functions as a cultural center with museum displays that can be visited at regular intervals.

The church tower dates from the late 16th century and received its present Baroque form in 1676. In 1611 the Chapel of the Holy Trinity was added on the foundations of an earlier Gothic chapel, and three of the presbytery's original nine Gothic windows were walled up because of it.