About the Jesuit Seminary
The building of the former Jesuit seminary, which now houses most of the museum’s other exhibitions, served as a Jesuit seminary for two centuries. It was founded by Kateřina of Montfort, the wife of Adam II of Hradec, and acquired its own building at the very beginning of the 17th century. The original L-shaped building, consisting of two wings and situated along the southern side of the Nežárka Gate opposite the Jesuit college, burned down in 1615. Ten years later, construction began on a new building with a square ground plan and a central arcaded courtyard. With the completion of the seminary’s Chapel of St Vitus in 1642, the late Renaissance building acquired its present appearance.
The building served its original purpose until the dissolution of the Jesuit order. It continued to be used for educational purposes, initially as a school attended by the young Bedřich Smetana, who lived nearby. From the 1860s until 1923, it housed the Jindřichův Hradec grammar school. In 1925, the vacant building was purchased by the town of Jindřichův Hradec and adapted for use as a museum. Its new exhibition spaces were first opened to the public in May 1928.
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