Religious monuments and places of pilgrimage are a great part of architectural heritage of the
Czech Republic. Although most of the churches, monasteries, chapels and pilgrimage places are
Roman-Catholic, there also are many Jewish and Christian Orthodox sights. Religious architecture
has gone through more than a thousand years' development.
On the territory of the capital there is the whole range of sacral monuments of various architectural styles and religions. The Cathedral of St.Vitus, St.Wenceslas and St.Adalbert are the most famous sacral monument in Prague and create the characteristic Prague dominant. The Emperor Charles IV had it constructed as the central cathedral at the place of two older sanctuaries in the...
The Cathedral of St.Barbora was originated in around 1380 and belongs to the most valuable monuments of the Gothic style in Bohemia. Peter Parléř realized the construction, which was completed in 1420, when the cathedral chancel with a circle of chapels was built. Later the construction was interrupted by the Hussite wars and only after their end the construction of the cathedral continued. Among...
Czech nobleman Hroznata originated the monastery in Teplá as a compensation for the fact that the Pope freed him from the participation in the Third crusade. Hroznata invited the Premonstratensian monks from the Strahov monastery in Prague to come over. Later Hroznata himself became a member of the order and the caretaker of the property. One day robber-knights kidnapped him, imprisoned him and...
In 1720 the abbot of the monastery in Žďár founded the pilgrimage Church on Zelená Hora (the Green Mountain) in order to commemorate the Czech martyr and the saint Jan Nepomucký. According to the legend crown with five stars appeared above his head. That was the reason why architect Giovanni B. Santini used the symbol of pentagram for the building in the Baroque- Gothic style – the ground plan has...
Svatá Hora (the Holy Mountain) is the oldest and most important Marian place of pilgrimage in the Czech Republic. The chapel on Svatá Hora, originally a simple Early Renaissance building was built in the early 16th century. According to the tradition, Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice is the author of the local sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the Infant from the mid- 14th century. The sculpture was...
The monumental Church of the Visitation of Our Lady on the hill Svatý Kopeček (the Holy Little Hill) is the dominant of the area. A rich wine merchant of Olomouc, Jan Andrejsek, promised to build a chapel on Svatý Kopeček, after the Holy Virgin Mary appeared in his dream. Since 1151 the Premonstratensian community acted here. The chapel, which was consecrated in 1633, was built on the territory of...
King Przemysl Otakar II donated the Broumov bulge to the Brevnov Benedictines in 1213. After the year 1322 Benedictine provostship was originated in Broumov and at the place of the Gothic castle began the construction of the Benedictine monastery. The original monastery church was built in the Gothic style and was devoted to St.Adalbert. In the cause of Hussite wars the monastery was besieged...
The Kladruby monastery is one of the oldest Czech monasteries. Prince Vladislav originated it in 1114 on the place worshiped as the centre of faith, culture and economy of the western Bohemian borderland. The Romanesque three-nave basilica was completed in the year 1233 and at that time it was the biggest in Bohemia. Even today it belongs to the three largest Czech cathedrals. In course of time the...
Třebíč is the town of uncommon religious sights; the most famous is the Roman-Gothic Basilica of St.Procope. The abbot cathedral, originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was constructed since the first half of the 13th century as a part of the Benedictine monastery, which was originated in 1101 in Třebíč. The basilica suffered a lot of damage, when the Hungarian army of Matyas Corvine...
Prague
Kutná Hora
Teplá
Žďár nad Sázavou
Svatá Hora u Příbrami
Svatý Kopeček u Olomouce
Broumov
Kladruby
Trebic
