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The Great Moravian Rotunda at Pohansko near Břeclav

Publication at Faculty of Science |
2014

Abstract

The study presents the archaeological discovery made in 2006 in the northeast suburb of Pohansko. The interdisciplinary excavation conducted at the site over the following five years revealed the remains of previously unknown early medieval church architecture - a rotunda surrounded by a large cemetery in which one-hundred and fifty-two individuals were buried.

The rotunda represents the second Great Moravian church discovered at Pohansko. The first Christian shrine was discovered in 1958 at the beginning of systematic archaeological excavations that continue at the site and the surrounding area to this day.

The most significant finding from the latest excavation is that the basic load-bearing structure of the rotunda in the northeast suburb was made of wood, despite the fact that the church appeared from the outside to be made entirely of stone. The presence of five graves inside the church is likewise noteworthy.

Two men, and three children aged between eighteen months and twelve years were buried beneath the floor of the church at a time when the building was already standing. Based on finds from the graves in and outside of the church, the existence of the rotunda can be dated to the high Great Moravian period in the second half of the ninth century, with a probable duration into the first decades of the tenth century.