Tel. 233 107 711
Train: 22
Open: 9am- 12pm, 12:30pm- 5pm
daily
Church of Our Lady, Theological Hall, Philosophical Hall,
Picture Gallery
Open: 9am- 12pm, 1pm- 5pm daily
Closed: Easter
Sun, 25 Dec
Roman Catholic Strahov Monastery with the Church of the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary is an integral part of Prague
panorama. This beautiful Baroque church was constructed on the older
medieval Romanesque basilica of the 12th century. Strahov Monastery
is one of the most popular religious destinations in Prague as it
contains the remains of Saint Norbert, the founder of the
Premonstratensian Order. North side of the abbey courtyards is taken
by a large Gothic Church of Saint Roch that was built in the early
17th century by an Italian architect Giovanni Mario Filippi. Its
construction was paid by Emperor Rudolf II in gratitude for the
miraculous sudden end to a devastating plague.
Strahov
Monastery extensive complex is particularly notable for its
Theological Hall Library created by another Italian architect
Giovanni Domenico Orsi in the 18th century. The walls are covered by
Baroque stucco and paintings of an artist Frantisek Christian
Nosetskiy that date back to the 18th century. The ceiling painting
"The History of Humanity" belongs to a painter Frantisek Antonin
Maulbertsha. Another gallery is located in the inner courtyard of
the Strahov Monastery. It contains a collection of Czech and
European art of the Gothic and Renaissance periods.
The monastery was founded in 1143 by Prince Vladislav
II. with his wife Gertruda and Olomouc bishop Jindřich Zdík and was
given the new name Sion. It seems that Jindřich Zdík, with the support
of the Prague bishop Jan, tried to create a monastery of religious
canons apparently inspired by the canons of the Holy Sepulcher. After
the death of Bishop Jan, his successor Ota and Prince Vladislav
supported these efforts. Jindřich Zdík eventually solved the
difficulties of the religious by requesting the general chapter of the
Premonstratensian order to reassemble the convent.
"And since it
was fitting that the piety of religious men should increase, as by the
direction of God, so that the rules of a holy life and monastic
perfection should increase in it, I began to search in careful
contemplation from where such persons would procure for that place the
favor of God . Because then a frequent rumor spread about the Steinfeld
monastery and made us realize that both the provost and all the brothers
under the order of St. Augustine the Lord knighted there and among the
excellent men of that order shine like lights in the vault of heaven, I
desired to deserve to receive from their holy and the God-loving company
of the abbot and the convent, we asked the provost for them and I
received them and handed over to them with God's help the administration
of that place..."
— Jindřich Zdík in the founding document of the
monastery
In 1142, Premonstratensian monks from Westphalian
Steinfeld came to Strahov. A stone church and monastery was then built
in the second half of the 12th century, in 1178 King Vladislav II was
buried here. and after modifications, the church was consecrated for the
second time in 1182.
After the fire of 1258 and in the 14th
century, the monastery was rebuilt in various ways. After being looted
in the Hussite wars of 1420, it was restored and significantly rebuilt
only in 1601-1605 (the church) and 1614-1626 the convent. In 1613, the
Abbey Garden was also newly established. In 1627, the remains of the
founder of the Premonstratensian order, St. Norbert (+1134), were
transported here from Magdeburg, and in 1648 the monastery was looted by
Swedish troops, who also took away a large part of the library.
The Baroque reconstruction was led by the architects Giovanni Domenico
Orsi (1671–1674]), who also built a new library hall (today's
Theological Hall), and Jan Baptista Mathey (the abbey building, after
1682). After the church was damaged in 1742, Anselmo Lurago repaired the
facades, and at the end of the 18th century, Ignác Jan Nepomuk Palliardi
participated in the reconstruction of the facade of the Library's
Philosophical Hall.
After the communist takeover, the monastery
was closed in 1950 and most of the religious were deported to
concentration camps. During the reconstruction for the purposes of the
National Literature Memorial in 1950–1953, it became clear that large
parts of the original Romanesque building of the church and monastery
were preserved, up to the height of the first floor. In 1992–1993, the
monastery was restored and repaired in the following years.
The originally Romanesque Basilica of the Assumption
of the Virgin Mary from the second half of the 12th century was rebuilt
in Gothic style after a fire in 1258. At the same time, a chapel
originally dedicated to St. Voršile, today St. Norbert.
The next
reconstruction came after the sacking of the basilica by the Hussites
and a long period of decay under Abbot Jan Lohelio in the years
1601–1605, when the transept and the old towers of the facade were torn
down and new ones were built. His successor, Kašpar from Questenberk,
continued the Renaissance modifications, who in 1630-1631 had the
basilica extended and a new facade built. He then had the chapel of Our
Lady of Pasovska added to the south nave.
The current Baroque
form of the basilica is the work of the Italian architect Anselmo
Lurago, who led the reconstruction after it was damaged in the French
and Prussian bombardments of Prague in 1742 and 1751. The basilica was
thoroughly repaired after 1993.
Library
The Strahov Library is
one of the most valuable and best-preserved historical libraries not
only in the Czech Republic. It keeps over 200,000 books, including over
3,000 manuscripts and 1,500 originals, stored in a special depository.
The library consists of two halls, the Theological and the larger
Philosophical, and connecting corridors between them.
Front of
the library
it was completed in 1783, the Tuscan pilasters carry a
pediment with triglyphs and a shield terminated by a segment. In the
metope of the frieze is the inscription: RELIGIONI PATRIAE SIONEORUM
PROFECTUI (religion, homeland, for the benefit of Zion) with the year A.
M. D. CCLXXXIII (1783). Between the vases above the center of the frieze
is a sculpture containing a globe, scepter, compass, and books. Below
her, in the center of the relief, is a gilded medallion with a portrait
of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.
After 1781 Joseph II. he
destroyed useless monasteries, but the Strahov Monastery was not one of
them. The location of the medallion of this monarch on the facade of the
church building is unique.
Theological Hall
The oldest part of
today's library, the so-called Theological Hall, was built in 1671-1674
according to the design and under the direction of G. D. Orsi. The
ceiling frescoes by the Strahov monk Siard Nosecký are from the years
1721–1727. The hall mainly stores theological literature, most of the
northern wall is covered by various editions of the Bible.
Cabinet of curiosities and connecting corridor
Both connecting
corridors also serve as libraries, at the western end of the northern
connecting corridor is the so-called cabinet of curiosities, the
forerunner of later museums. Remarkable natural objects (shells, stuffed
animals, etc.) are placed in glass cabinets.
Philosophical hall
The main vaulted hall of the historical library, called Philosophical,
with dimensions of about 10 x 32 m, extends over two floors of the
building and has a walkway roughly halfway up. It was created by
modifying the original granary in the years 1783–1785 with a new facade
by I. J. Palliardi and sculptures by Ignác František Platzer. In 1792,
it was modified so that library furniture from 1778 from the abolished
monastery in Louka near Znojmo could be moved here. The ceiling frescoes
are by F.A. Maulbertsch from 1794 and depict the spiritual development
of humanity.
For centuries, the Strahov Monastery nurtured
education and culture. Already in the 18th century there was a valuable
collection of paintings here. A year after his election as abbot of
Strahov (1834), Jeroným Josef Zeidler decided to build a picture
gallery. This happened in connection with the interest in the Feast of
the Rosary, a key work by Albrecht Dürer, which was in the possession of
the monastery at the time. Immediately after its establishment, 400
paintings were placed in the gallery. Over the following years, a number
of important works were acquired and a catalog was also compiled. In the
seventies of the 18th century, the gallery had over a thousand items.
The hall with hundreds of paintings was visited annually by dozens,
later hundreds of interested people from all over Europe. Nevertheless,
the possibility to view the collection was limited by its location in
the cloister. After the forced dissolution of the monastery in 1950, the
collections were seized, the most valuable parts were taken over by the
National Gallery in Prague, and other works mostly ended up in the
administration of heritage buildings.
Together with the
restoration of religious life, the collection of the picture gallery was
largely consolidated in 1992-1993, the collection now contains one and a
half thousand paintings. Since 1993, part of the collection has been
presented to the public for the first time in a permanent exhibition,
representing a selection of some of the highest quality paintings from
the 14th to 19th centuries. The current exhibition is a selection of
thematic units that are included in the Strahov collection.
At present, he is the abbot of the Royal
Premonstratensian canon in Strahov Rmus. D. Daniel Peter Janáček,
O.Praem. (elected June 26, 2018). A total of 75 religious belong to the
canonry, living in the monastery itself or in parishes throughout the
Czech Republic and in parts of Slovakia.
Places of activity of
the Strahov Premonstratensians at the present time
Archdiocese of
Prague:
monastery and parish of Prague-Strahov
Parish of
Prague-Nebušice
Rudná-Hořelice parish
Parish of Tachlovice
Roman Catholic parish near the church of St. Ludmila Prague-Vinohrady
Parish of Prague-Košíře
Parish of Prague-Řepy
Úhonice parish
Parish of Prague-Střešovice
parish of Říčany near Prague
parishes
administered from Říčany u Prahy: Jažlovice parish, Kostelec u Křížků
parish, Popovičky parish, Velké Popovice parish, Mukařov parish.
Nové
Strašecí parish
Diocese of Litoměřice:
parish of Bohušovice
nad Ohří
the parish of Doksany + the local monastery of the
Premonstratensian sisters
parish of Liběšice near Žatec
Štětí nad
Labem parish
Žatec parish
Diocese of České Budějovice:
Milevsko parish and monastery
Parishes administered from Milevsko
Monastery: Bernartice Parish, Hodušín Parish, Chyšky Parish, Jistebnice
Parish, Klučenice Parish, Kostelec nad Vltavou Parish, Kovářov Parish,
Květov Parish, Lašovice Parish, Nadějkov Parish, Předbořice Parish,
Sepekov Parish, Veselíčko Parish
parish of Březnice near Příbrami
Diocese of Brno:
religious house and parish Jihlava – St. Jacob
parishes administered from Jihlava: the parish of Rančířov u Jihlava,
the parish of Vyskytná nad Jihlavou
Louka u Znojmo parish
parishes
administered from Znojmo-Louka: Konice parish, Havraníky parish, Hnanice
parish, Šatov parish
parish of Křenovice near Slavkov
Bučovice
parish
Archdiocese of Olomouc:
religious house and parish of
St. Kopeček near Olomouc
parish of Olomouc - Klášterní Hradisko
Archdiocese of Bratislava (Slovakia):
Holíč parish
Diocese
of Nitra (Slovakia):
Vráble parish