The majestic monastery lies at the intersection of the Danube Upland, Pohronský Inovec and the Štiavnica Hills, on the right bank of the Hron River, in the so-called Slovak Gate. Located on the road I/76 between Nova Bana and Levice
The central part of the monastery complex consists of so-called a paradise courtyard surrounded by a cloister with arcades. There are monastery buildings around the courtyard and the space is completed by the dominant church of the Virgin Mary and St. Benedict standing on the north side. It is a magnificent basilica with an impressively designed Gothic entrance portal on the west side and a large façade forming a pair of typical towers. The church is vaulted by cross vaults. On its southern side is a part of the Gothic cross vault of an old Gothic monastery, adjacent to the Gothic sacristy with the late Gothic chapel of St. Blood of 1489.In connection with the Renaissance reconstruction of the fortress in the 16th century, the monastery's space was enlarged by about three times. The original buildings - the preserved eastern facade, the church and the older defensive tower with the entrance gate - were also included in the newly emerging complex. The church became part of the fortress system when it served as a northwestern bastion. The corners of the monastery were reinforced and completed by massive cylindrical bastions, of which only one has been preserved unchanged to this day. The monastery complex was rebuilt as an anti-Turkish fortress. In one of the bastions, a system for exhausting the burnt gases produced during the shooting was preserved, unique for that time. Another technical element found use during the reconstruction was a tubular ceramic water supply system supplying water for the inhabitants of the monastery from a nearby spring. His mouth was in today's well in the courtyard.Church inventory is relatively modest today. Many rare artifacts are found in museums in Hungary. Only a few statues have been preserved from the original equipment, a relic of the Blood of God given to the monastery by King Matthias Corvinus, a late Baroque baptismal font from the original Romanesque church from the end of the 18th century and the cryary of the Koháry family. A precious monument is the church organ from 1714, one of the most precious in our country.The monastery complex with its monumental character is an unique combination of sacral and fortification buildings as well as symbiosis of individual architectural styles - Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. The monastery is used as a charity home, but also as a place of short stay.
The Benedictine abbey in Hronský Beňadik was solemnly consecrated in 1075 in the presence of the founder of the monastery, King Gejz I of Hungary. Simultaneously with the establishment of the order, the king granted property rights and privileges to the newly established monastery in a deed. According to her, the monastery owned extensive property in addition to the Tekovská chair itself, but also in the chairs of Nitra, Esztergom, Novohradská and others. The privileges included e.g. the right to choose the so-called salt toll in Transylvania and toll from floating wood on Hron. The place of origin of the oldest Romanesque monastery was not chosen at random. It had favorable natural conditions (the Slovak Gate opening the entrance to Pohronie) and there was an old trade route connecting Nitra with mining localities, from which royal towns later developed. Archaeological research has confirmed that this place was inhabited as early as the Great Moravian period. Very little has been preserved from the original Romanesque complex (from 1075). A survey carried out on this site in the years 1881 - 1883 revealed masonry belonging to the oldest monastic buildings in our territory. They were probably the three-nave basilica and the monastery buildings to the south. However, these buildings only existed here for about three hundred years.
The construction of today's complex of buildings took place during the reign of King Louis I the Great of Anjou in the years 1345 - 1350 (sometimes the years 1346 - 1375 are mentioned). At that time, Abbot Siegfried was at the head of the monastery. The first building was a Gothic church and three shrines with cross vaults. At the same time, the construction of monastery buildings began. After the completion of this construction phase, at the end of the 14th century, they built a three-nave building with a pair of characteristic towers and a representative late Gothic entrance portal. The monastery was supplemented by a south wing with a cloister. The monastery was later seized by Ján Jiskra from Brandýs, but immediately after him the monastery was acquired by the castellan Máté Csalkai. In 1473, Ján Széchényi became the abbot of the monastery, who carried out several building modifications. The last building, dating back to the Gothic period, was the so-called abbey wing, completed in 1508. In the middle of the monastery was the monastery garden. After the completion of the construction work, the church began to be filled with important works of art, especially altars, of which, however, very few have been preserved.
From the period following the re-establishment of the monastery until the 15th century, relatively few reports have been preserved about the fate of the building. An exception is the period of administration of Abbot John III. (1476 - 1510). According to records, he had the roof of the church covered again, he set up the chapel of St. Blood and around 1506 he had an organ installed in the church. He also made a significant contribution to the development of education and book culture. From the very beginning, in addition to spreading the spiritual word, the monastery has become famous as an important center of medieval culture and education as well as technical progress (eg by introducing new working methods in agriculture). Important monuments of fine arts, liturgy, music and theological works had their origins just behind the walls of the Beňadice monastery. Hence the Nitra Codex, the Latin Evangelical, the oldest text written in Latin in our territory. The monastery was also one of the so-called credible places. His competence included issuing, confirming and verifying important documents and papers, and people approached the local convention with requests to resolve disputes in property matters. The monastery was also a place for storing archives and valuables.
The beginning of the 16th century brought with it an increase in the Turkish danger as well as attacks by the local population, for whom the monastery represented a feudal exploiter. These facts resulted in further construction modifications of the monastery complex. After 1537, fortifications were started on the building with the aim of securing the monastery from external enemies. The result was the reconstruction of the monastery and the church into a Renaissance fortress, which was completed in the years 1565 - 1588, when the owner of the building was the Esztergom chapter. Massive walls and cannon bastions became part of the monastery complex. However, the tax for this reconstruction was the demise of some Gothic elements of architecture. After the said reconstruction, the monastery building became part of the system of fortresses protecting central Slovakia, and was even a border fortress during the Turkish occupation of Levíce. As early as 1623, the monastery was occupied by the troops of Gabriel Bethlen. Despite all the modifications, the buildings of the monastery were considerably damaged. From 1703 to 1709, the imperial troops lived here. The entire remaining period of the 17th and 18th centuries was marked by repairs of destroyed parts. In this century, a large granary (dimensions 60 x 10 m) was built on the site of the collapsed wing.
The tragic day for the monastery was July 21, 1881, when the monastery buildings were engulfed in a large fire. He damaged the building to such an extent that the chapter in Esztergom was forced to make extensive modifications. The purist neo-Gothic reconstruction - regotization - was designed by Ferenc Storno, and its realization in the years 1882-1889 was completed by Otto Sztehló. It meant another decrease in the hitherto relatively well-preserved parts of the monastery, e.g. the entrance gate with a drawbridge was removed. Some elements of Gothic furniture have found a new location in the Diocesan Museum, today's Christian Museum in Esztergom.
In 1950, the monastery became a concentration monastery for nuns from all over Slovakia. In 1970, the abbey was declared a National Cultural Monument. From 1927, a Salesian Order operated here with breaks until 1999. After them, a Order of Pallotines operates in the monastery until today. The monastery is used as a charity home, but also as a place of short stay.
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