Gothic-style mosaic pavement from the church of the Cistercian abbey of Klášter Hradiště-nad-Jizerou
Abstract
One of the issues targeted by architectural studies of medieval sacred buildings is the original layout of their interiors. This is a contribution attempting an assessment of a thirteenth-century tile pavement of the abbey church of Virgin Mary, as revealed by materials obtained by archaeological excavations at the site of the one-time Cistercian abbey at Hradiště-nad-Jizerou - Klášter.
The treatment of this rather uniform material demanded a selection of a specific methodical approach. The principle of a mosaic pavement consists in the composition of a decorative pattern by means of putting together plain tiles of various geometrical shapes.
This is a device of all-European diffusion, and thus parallels can easily be found even beyond the borders of the Czech lands.