Abstract
This chapter deals with the architectural materiality of monasteries. The agenda of the architectural materiality is analysed at the three levels: materiality as actor, as archive and as canon of memory.
This approach extends the original research focus on the moral economy of monasteries. On the case of monasteries living according to the Rule of St Benedict, the chapter shows the two trends of communication with the outside society that monasteries developed in the Czech Republic.
These trends follow the way in which the monastery perceives its role within society and the trends are classified as the connection and the disconnection. Simultaneously the text represents a methodological essay identifying some of the benefits and difficulties of working with the visual material.