The Strahov Monastery

The Premonstratensian monastery in the Czech lands was established in the 12th century. It includes the famous Strahov Library with more than 200,000 volumes.

The Strahov Monastery was the first Premonstratensian monastery in the Czech lands. It was founded in 1140 by the Olomouc Bishop Jindřich Zdík and Prince Vladislav II near Prague Castle in the place where guard was held, hence the name of the site and the monastery (which is derived from the Czech word for "guard").

The whole area of the monastery was at the time of its inception probably larger than the entire former princely castle and at the same time was the largest Romanesque building in Bohemia. In addition, it was home to significant figures and was the site of the representative assembly. In the mid-13th century it was engulfed in flames, and the subsequent reconstruction was carried out in the early Gothic style.

The Hussite wars were also unkind to the monastery and it only experienced a revival at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries when the Gothic-Renaissance votive Church of St. Roch was built, the convent temple of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was restored and the monastery rebuilt. The highlight of this period was the transfer of the remains of St. Norbert from the Magdeburg Premonstratensian monastery to Strahov. Today his tomb is located in the St. Voršily Chapel.

In 1648 the monastery was ransacked by Swedish troops and after their departure an early Baroque and Baroque reconstruction followed, which gave the monastery the form it has today. Also in the 17th century the famous Theological Hall (the older representation room of the Strahov Library) was built. To this day the Baroque cabinets with old manuscripts and incunabula as well as the oldest Gospel book made of parchment paper dating from the 9th century have been preserved.

The construction of this period was completed with the building of a new Classical Library with a Philosophical Hall, whose dimensions are truly formidable (32 m long, 10 m wide and 14 m high). The famous Strahov Library today contains over 200,000 volumes.

Part of the monastery is also the Strahov Brewery, in which beer was brewed until the early 20th century. Since the 1830s a picture gallery was gradually built in Strahov in which we find a collection of Central European art.

In 1950 the development of the monastery was ruptured by the Communists. The monastery was only returned to the Premonstratensian Order after 1989. Today it again houses Premonstratensian monks. The Strahov Monastery is a national cultural monument.