Church of St. Joseph and the Capuchin Monastery in Fulnek

One of the most important places to discover the Baroque architecture of Fulnek is the Church of St. Joseph and the Capuchin Monastery. The site gives you an idea of the simplicity of the life of the monks who lived here until the middle of the twentieth century.

The Church of St. Joseph is characterised by its simple architecture, exactly in the spirit of Franciscan rules. It lacks, for example, the usual tall tower for Catholic churches, which is replaced by a small spire on the roof of the building. The cells occupied by the monks themselves are equally simple. And their way of life was also modest, as evidenced by the gardens in the monastery courtyard.

The Fulnek Capuchin monastery even survived the reform of Joseph II, who abolished many monasteries in 1782, leaving only five monasteries, one of which was in Fulnek. The monks lived on the hill behind the stream even after the Second World War, when one April night in 1950 the state security arrived, occupied the monastery and sent the monks to internment. In their place, nuns from many of the monasteries that had been closed down moved in.

Today, the church has been repaired and is open to the public, and reconstruction of the monastery premises is underway.In the vicinity of St. Joseph’s Church there is also the Chapel of St. Roch and Sebastian, which serves as an exhibition hall, and the Villa Loreta, which used to be part of the monastery, but is now a children’s home.