Early Gothic Capital at Letovice Castle

The castle in Letovice, located in northwestern Moravia, under went several renovations, transforming its original Gothic structure into its current form. The newly registered and documented early Gothic crocket capital of a supporting pier, which was walled in on the ground floor of the southwestern wing shortly before 2011, is an exceptional discovery. The absence of detailed findings limits our ability to explore the cultural and historical background of the capital’s origin and its intended architecture. The local Cenoma nian sandstone suggests that the fragment, representative of an advanced design, might have belonged to a religious structure in the wider Letovice region, or possibly to Letovice itself, such as the local St Procopius parish church, an unidentified sanctuary on the castle promontory, or the oldest chapel in Letovice Castle. If it truly originates from Letovice, a link points to the owners of Letovice, the Lords of Ředhošť, who were among the prominent nobles in the Czech lands during the second quarter of the 13th century. On the other hand, there is a clear connection between the capital and the production of a construction workshop that built the basilica of the Benedictine monastery in Třebíč from the late 1220 s. Identical ele ments are present in the crypt of the Třebíč church. This link helps date the Letovice capital to the late 1220 s or early 1230 s. Addition ally, the Letovice spolium extends the small collection of structures associated with the Třebíč monastery workshop (including Měřín and Rajhrad) by adding another, though uncertain, site.

Keywords: Middle Ages – earliest Gothic – crocket capital – Mora via – Letovice Castle – Třebíč monastery workshop