From the early Middle Ages, collegiate bodies of clerics – canons – were formed at cathedrals. Their task was to ensure continuous prayers in the cathedral choir, to care for the solemnity of services, and to support the bishop in the administration of the diocese. The Olomouc Chapter, one of the oldest ecclesiastical institutions in Moravia, soon took on this role. It was probably founded immediately after the restoration of the Moravian bishopric in 1063, but its truly documented beginnings are linked to the person of Bishop Jindřich Zdík and the transfer of the episcopal seat and the chapter's seat in 1141 to the newly completed Church of St. Wenceslas. Zdík's goal was a reformed chapter of twelve canons who, like the twelve apostles of Christ, were to practice vita communis, or common life. However, this ideal did not survive its founder. Under Bishop Robert, the chapter also gained the right to freely elect a bishop, which it was last able to exercise (albeit in a limited form) in 1916.
As an independent institution, the chapter was governed by its own statutes, which were based on general chapter rules but were amended and supplemented several times throughout history. The statutes were also considered an internal affair of the chapter and, as such, were strictly guarded. Only the canons themselves were allowed to know them.
Exhibition Information
EXHIBITION: Nobility and Priesthood. 200 years since the establishment of noble exclusivity for canons of the Olomouc Metropolitan Chapter
LOCATION: St. Wenceslas Cathedral, crypt
DATE: 29 05 2026 – 13 09 2026
AUTHORS AND CURATORS: Jitka Jonová, Helena Zápalková
RESTORATION PREPARATION: Ondřej Žák
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Martin Fišr
TECHNICAL COLLABORATION: Antonín Kučera
opening hours
JUNE
Saturday, 10:00—13:00 and 14:00—17:00
Sunday, 14:00—17:00
JULY AND AUGUST
Tuesday—Saturday, 10:00—13:00 and 14:00—17:00
Sunday and public holidays, 14:00—17:00
SEPTEMBER
Saturday, 10:00—13:00 and 14:00—17:00
Sunday, 14:00—17:00
From the end of the 17th century, the Olomouc canons were almost exclusively members of the nobility, even though inkolát, i.e., membership of the provincial nobility, first appeared in the statutes approved by Maria Theresa in 1772. As members of the nobility, they primarily presented themselves – although they were priests – also in their oaths: sub fide nobili et sacerdotali (as a nobleman and priest). Although in most chapters the requirement of noble origin was gradually abandoned from the late 18th century, in Olomouc, noble exclusivity (without inkolát) was enshrined in the chapter statutes confirmed by the Olomouc Archbishop, Archduke and Cardinal Rudolf Jan in 1826. This condition was only partially relaxed by a decree from 1880, and definitively after 1918.
Whether the Olomouc canons were noble by birth, or their nobility was manifested primarily in spiritual activities – or both – they represented an important part of the functioning of the diocese and the cathedral. They often belonged to the most generous donors, but also to important movers of cultural, social, and national life. The exhibition, organized to commemorate the anniversary of the issuance of the chapter statutes establishing noble exclusivity, commemorates selected personalities from among the Olomouc canons of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, primarily through liturgical art and craft works from the collection of St. Wenceslas Cathedral.
The exhibition is organized by the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Wenceslas Olomouc in cooperation with the Saints Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology of Palacký University Olomouc and the Olomouc Museum of Art.
Nobility and Priesthood
May 29 – Sep 13, 2026
