NON-DESTRUCTIVE RESEARCH OF THE CHURCH OF BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN IN ŽELIV BY HUMPOLEC

Archaeological research of the Premonstratensian monastery in Želiv was realized in 2007 on the basis of the investor´s request in the conventual church of Birth of the Virgin as a non-destructive research of underground features. In the concrete, prospection of several funeral areas was made, where a number of experts in socio-scientific, scientific and technical fields collaborated. In the crypt of Abbots, built in front of the main altar, prominent baroque abbots were laid to rest. Another crypt of the Brethren is an extensive crypt with a large number of burials that cannot be defined or timed. It can be assumed that they are burials of baroque monks as well. In the conventual church other 3 crypts were researched that had belonged to the noble families which had been rewarded by confraternity with the Želiv canonia for their outstanding service to the monastery, and were buried in the church of Birth of the Virgin. The crypt of the knights Vraždas of Kunvald, who belonged to gentry in the Čáslav region, by the second northern pillar of the baroque quadrature in the northern aisle, was without burials. The least damaged was the crypt of the lords Leskovecs of Leskovec, built in front of the memorial arch of the conventual church. The name of this old noble family is derived from a stronghold called Leskovec by Počátky. Burials in the last examined crypt of the counts Věžníks of Věžníky, located by the second southern pillar of the baroque quadrature, were most damaged and no detailed information about them can be given. Geophysical measuring detected remains of wallings and other burial spaces in the interior of the church under the present floor. However, they have not been verified by a test pit and a mini-camera. This way a new technological procedure developed that is not only suitable for determining and verifying the character of inaccessible hollows, but also enables maximally careful treatment of the examined historical features.