Robert Lichnovsky, Dean of the Metropolitan Chapter, was born 200 years ago

NEWS: 07 11 2022

His emblem can be found on the grille of the entrance gate to the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc, he is behind the design of the Hall of Emblems or the renovation of St. Barbaras Chapel - we are talking about the dean of the Olomouc Metropolitan Chapter, Robert Count Lichnovský of Voštice, whose birth is 200 years ago today.

Robert Richard Engelbert Maria Count Lichnovsky of Voštice was born at the family castle in Hradec nad Moravicí as the sixth of eight children (third son) of Edward II Prince Lichnovsky, Count of Werdenberg, Lord Voštice of Voštice and Eleonora née Countess Zichy-Vásonykeö. His father, a renowned historian, was a descendant of an important Silesian family with roots dating back to the 14th century. On his mothers side, the family was related to ancient Hungarian families such as the Batthyány, Esterházy, Hunyady and Pálffy.

During Robert Lichnovskýs tenure as head of the Olomouc chapter, the last significant building modifications were made to the chapter deanery, where the Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc is now located. The whole area has basically acquired its present form, which is why we can see its coat of arms on the grille of the entrance gate of the court of honour.

"Among the most visible changes is the decoration of the so-called Hall of Arms. Its walls were then covered with painted coats of arms of Olomouc canons of the 17th to 19th centuries, which gave the hall its name and clearly made visible the noble privilege successfully defended by the Lichnovskis at the papal court. The deans emblem is also borne by the two stoves in the corners of the hall," Zápalková describes.

The prelates chapel of St. Barbara was also significantly modified in the mid-18th century and was built into the newly completed upper floor of the medieval round tower of the former peasant residence. The interior of the chapel, newly consecrated on 16 July 1876 by the papal nuncio Lodovico Jacobi, was given a historicist, neo-Renaissance look. The walls are decorated with murals of the life of the saint and the stucco altar is dominated by a painting of the Crowned Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus and the saints from around 1600. The dean also had a set of six altar candlesticks and a cross cast for the chapel, based on the bronze candlesticks designed by Alessandro Vittorio for the Chapel of the Rosary in the Basilica of S. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.

"The eternal light lamp, in the form of a crown with Marian stars carried by a trio of angels, also has an Italian model. It is a smaller copy of the lamp from the Chigi family chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini," Zápalková adds.