The monastery was never separated from the surrounding landscape. Forests, ponds, gardens and pastures were a source of sustenance and work. The programmes in this section invite students to discover the landscape that people and monks have been shaping together for centuries.
Program name: A walk to the Perlik Rocks or Tales hidden in the cluster landscape
From the landscape, are we able to uncover stories from the past? What happened in this environment over hundreds of years?
For centuries, the forest, stone, and water around the Vyšsi Brod Monastery, were a source of raw materials, without which the monastery could not function. This landscape was shaped by the monks together with the people who worked for the monastery.
On the way to Perlíkovy skalky, the students work with a map, observe the landscape, listen to its sounds and look for traces of past human activity. Motivated by puzzles they gradually reveal how people used the local natural resources, and how individual places were related to the life of the monastery.
Target group: 2nd grade elementary school students
Total implementation time: 150 min. (+ grilling sausages)
Program name: Monastery fish and other animals or Water – the basis of life
Where does the water come from that gives life to the fish in the monastery pond?
This program will take students on a short walk around the landscape of the Vyšsibrod monastery. Here fish have been bred for centuries. At the pond, they will explore where the water comes from, why the trout bred here, and how the pond functions today.
The program is based on observation of the landscape, solving puzzles, and working with real objects in the environment of the monastery farm. What can water tell us about the relationship between people and their landscape?
Target group: 2nd grade elementary school students
Total implementation time: 90–120 min.
Program name: The Story of the Monastery Gardens
Where once there was a forest, monastery gardens have blossomed.
What were these gardens used for? How did the monks take care of them? and what can this teach us today? Together we will set out to discover the story of the gardens. Notice the scent of the flowers, observe the sounds and the silence; appreciate the care and the hard work of those who have worked here.
Maps and old books will help us, but what you will actually discover depends primarily on you. Roll up your sleeves and sharpen your senses – the gardens are waiting to meet you.
Target group: 1st grade elementary school students
Total implementation time: 90 min.
Program name: A walk behind the monastery or How are the sheep doing?
Why do sheep graze in the monastery landscape?
Take your children on a walk of discovery behind the monastery, where we will meet them up close. Together, we will investigate why they live here and the many ways in which they were important for people in the past.
Just look, listen and even touch. Children will feel the sheep's wool, play games, sing a song and discover the value of sheep to the monastery.
What can we appreciate about the landscape and its animals if we stop for a moment, if we really look?
Target group: pre-schoolers in kindergarten and 1st grade pupils in elementary school
Total implementation time: 60 min.