Church of Blessed Giuliana of Collalto

The Church of Blessed Juliana of Collalto stands in the upper part of Brtnice, a small town in the Vysočina region of the Czech Republic, right beside Brtnice Castle on the grounds of a former Pauline monastery. It's a subsidiary church of the Roman Catholic parish of Brtnice — easy to miss if you're only looking for the town's main parish church, but worth the short detour for anyone interested in Baroque architecture and monastic history.

Where does the building come from?

The church already existed before 1630, built by remodeling an older Lutheran church dedicated to St. Matthew — which is why Gothic details still survive in its fabric. When Pauline monks settled in Brtnice, the building was absorbed into the grounds of a newly constructed monastery and reworked in Baroque style to a design by the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Pieroni. The end of the 18th century, and the Josephine reforms that dissolved monasteries across the Habsburg lands, ended its religious use: the church was deconsecrated in 1784 and turned into storage space, falling into disrepair. It wasn't restored until 1831, when it reopened under its present dedication to Blessed Juliana of Collalto and St. Charles Borromeo.

Who was Blessed Juliana?

Juliana was born in 1186 into the Collalto family, in the area of present-day Susegana in the province of Treviso, Italy. From the age of ten she lived within a religious community in a monastery in northern Italy. She never set foot in Bohemia herself, yet her cult took root in Brtnice and persists there to this day, attached to this particular church since its 19th-century restoration.

What will you actually see?

The church is a single-nave hall building with a triangular chancel, covered by a four-bay cross vault. Two later side chapels, each topped with an eight-part dome, were added to the main body — they're what give the exterior its distinctly Baroque silhouette, visible from below the castle grounds. A tower with a passage rises above the complex, physically linking the church to the rest of the monastery buildings. The whole ensemble, church included, is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic as part of the former monastery complex.

How do you get there, and when should you visit?

The church sits in the upper part of Brtnice, immediately next to the castle, so the two make an easy combined stop — only a few hundred meters separate them. As a subsidiary parish church, it has no fixed opening hours for casual visitors; access to the interior is generally tied to Mass times and occasional parish events, so it's worth checking the current schedule with the Brtnice parish before planning a visit. The exterior and the monastery grounds around it can be viewed year-round without restriction.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Church of Blessed Juliana the same as Brtnice's main parish church? No. It's a separate subsidiary church on the grounds of the former Pauline monastery next to the castle — distinct from the town's main parish church (dedicated to St. James the Greater) in the center.

Why is the church named after an Italian beata? The dedication only dates to the 1831 restoration, after the building's period as deconsecrated storage space. Devotion to Juliana of Collalto, a 12th–13th century Italian nun, took hold locally in Brtnice at that point.

What's the oldest surviving part of the building? The Gothic elements inherited from the original Lutheran church of St. Matthew, built before 1630, prior to its Baroque remodeling.

Can visitors go inside? Interior access tends to be limited to Mass and parish events — check directly with the Brtnice parish for current hours before you go.