Monastery

Diakovce monastery  

The fertile area of the present day Diakovce was a part of the Benedictine Archabbey in Pannonhalma from the early Middle Ages (probably from the beginning of the 11th century). The monks of Pannonhalma possessed a large landed estate there, where they established one of their farmsteads, a so-called grange. As early as before 1102, a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary existed here. It was to become the core of the subsidiary monastery (priory) subservient to the abbey in Pannonhalma. In 1228, a new church of this subsidiary was ceremonially consecrated, also dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church and its side King St. Stephen Chapel make up the only part of the former monastery that is still standing today. They represent a valuable example of Romanesque brick architecture.

 

In the more immediate and distant surroundings of Diakovce,  a number of smaller Late Romanesque sacral buildings, with their characteristic brick architecture revealing a possible influence of the Diakovce Church, have been preserved. They are located in the area of  the Danube River itself, the river's subsidiary the Little Danube (the churches of Žitný ostrov (Great Rye Island)) as well as in the region of Dolné Považie (the Lower Váh River region – Gáň, Malá Mača), where secluded places with picturesque natural landscapes and more attractive sights, such as water mills (Tomášikovo, Jelka) or waterworks (Kráľová, Gabčíkovo) are to be found.