The Archdiocesan Museum offers the greatest archaeological discoveries of Olomouc

07 May 2025
PRESS RELEASE
  • EXHIBITION: The City on three hills. Medieval Olomouc from the archaeological perspective
  • TERM: 07 05 – 31 08 2025
  • OPENING: 07 05 2025 at 18:30
  • PLACE: Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc, Gallery
  • CONCEPT DESIGNER AND CURATOR: Jana Hrbáčová
  • TEXTS: Jana Hrbáčová, Pavel Šlézar
  • TRANSLATION: Peter Williams, Zuzana Henešová
  • GRAPHIC: Petr Šmalec
  • ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN: Jana Hrbáčová, Michal Soukup
  • INSTALLATION: Vlastimil Sedláček, Filip Šindelář, Daniel Opletal, Ondřej Žák
  • PHOTOGRAPHY: Markéta Lehečková
  • EDUCATION: Hana Lamatová, Marek Šobáň
  • LENDERS: National Heritage Institute, regional office in Olomouc / Regional Museum in Olomouc | Centre of Archaeology Olomouc / State District Archives of Olomouc | Moravian Regional Museum / Museum of Kroměříž Region /
  • THE EXHIBITION IS HELD IN COOPERATION WITH THESE INSTITUTIONS: National Heritage Institute, regional office in Olomouc / Regional Museum in Olomouc | Centre of Archaeology Olomouc / Regional Archives of Opava | State District Archive of Olomouc
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We can learn about the history of medieval Olomouc from the sources, from the city’s architecture and also from items that have been hidden from view for centuries. Thanks to archaeologists patiently bringing fragments of the past to light, the picture of the city is gradually becoming sharper and more detailed. The exhibition seeks to open a window onto the world of medieval Olomouc and its inhabitants with the help of archaeological finds, the first of which were made in the 19th century and the most recent in 2024. The exhibits dating from the 6th to the 16th centuries are divided into several thematic groups that give visitors the chance to see the reality of day-to-day life from various angles.

“The findings prove the building of the oldest churches, the existence of which we had no idea until recently. The everyday life of the townspeople is evidenced by fragments of tiled stoves and rich kitchen equipment, writing utensils are a reminder of the flowering of education, while playing stones and children’s toys testify to leisure time, but there are also weapons and equipment of warriors,” says the author and curator of the exhibition Jana Hrbáčová. “The textiles and jewellery testify to the changes in fashion, while the coin hoards along with merchant scales prove that medieval Olomouc was also a centre of trade.”

ATTRACTIONS

One of the exhibits is a slate tablet with an engraving of a priest from the 2nd half of the 9th century, which served as a cover plate for the sepulchre (a hole in the altar for storing relics) in the oldest predecessor of St. Peter’s Church, which dates back to the Great Moravian period. After the church’s demise, it was ritually deposited, along with other objects, in a pit cut into the rock. The exhibition will reveal the significance of the engraving for its contemporaries.

The sword with the inscription “ULFBERHT” from the turn of the 9th and 10th century comes from Frankish workshops and represented the peak of early medieval blacksmithing in its time. It is forged from many layers of overlay, which guarantee the ideal properties – the toughness of the core and the sharpness of the edge. These swords, whose price was extremely high, were not allowed to be exported from the Frankish Empire and sold to foreigners. Nevertheless, two of them have been preserved in Olomouc.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)