Project Description
Description
Essentials about St. George’s Basilica in brief
St. George’s Basilica (cz. “Bazilika Sv. Jiří”) is the oldest surviving church on the grounds of Prague Castle and the second oldest house of worship in the city of Prague. Founded in 920 and dedicated to St. George, the church is located directly behind St. Vitus Cathedral. Next to the basilica is the monastery of the same name, St. George, which for many centuries was one of the most important monasteries in Bohemia. The monastery, which is no longer active today, and the basilica are open to the public for tours.
The history of St. George’s Basilica
The construction of the first basilica in the 10th century
The construction of the first basilica began under Duke Vratislav I. When he died in 921, the church was completed but not yet consecrated. It was his son Wenceslas who completed the project and consecrated the church in 925 on the occasion of the burial of his grandmother, the murdered Princess Ludmilla. St. George’s Basilica occupied a prominent position in the period of the beginning Christianization of Bohemia. The priests’ college located here was the ecclesiastical center of the country until the foundation of the Prague bishopric.
The foundation of the monastery in the 10th century
The Monastery of St. George with the same name was founded only after the construction of the basilica. Around the year 975, Mlada, the daughter of Duke Boleslav I, sought papal permission in Rome to found a bishopric and a Benedictine monastery in Bohemia. She took the religious name of Mary and brought a group of consecrated virgins with her from Rome. Mlada was consecrated the first abbess of the monastery after her return.
Therefore, the year 976 is considered to be the year of the monastery’s foundation. The question of why the oldest monastery in Bohemia was a convent and who belonged to the first group of nuns who came to Prague from Rome remains unsolved to this day. After 976, the first monastery building was erected on the northern side of the basilica and the church served as a monastery church from then on. In the course of the monastery foundation, the church was extended by a west choir and a crypt and rebuilt into a three-nave basilica in the Ottonian early Romanesque style.
The extension of basilica and monastery in the 12th century
During the siege of Prague Castle in 1142, the monastery buildings and the church were severely damaged by fire. In the following years, a large part of the damaged monastery buildings were repaired as well as additional buildings were erected and the basilica got the two high white towers that characterize the current silhouette of the monastery. By the way, the narrower north tower was called “Eve”, the wider south tower was of course called “Adam”.
The reconstruction of basilica and monastery in the 17th century
Further major reconstructions took place at the beginning of the 17th century when a large choir for the nuns was built in the western part of the nave. Finally, from 1657, the fundamental early Baroque reconstruction of the monastery began, which lasted until 1680. The current facade of St. George Basilica also dates from this period.
The use of the monastery today
The history of the monastery ended in 1782 when, despite great public opposition, an imperial decree was issued for its abolition. The building became the property of the military and barracks were established inside it.
Today, the monastery and basilica are open to the public. The highlight inside the basilica is the so-called “Ludmilla Shrine”. In the 11th century, Princess Ludmilla, who had been buried in St. George’s Basilica since the year 925, was canonized. Since then, St. George’s Basilica was a much-visited pilgrimage site. In the middle of the 14th century, the Ludmilla Chapel was rebuilt to its present Gothic form.
In addition, the buildings of the monastery now house collections of the National Gallery and occasionally concerts are held here.
Phone
+420 224 372 434
Opening hours
Opening hours Apr. – Oct.:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm | 9 am – 5 pm |
Opening hours Nov. – Mar.:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm | 9 am – 4 pm |
Admission fees
Main circuit | |
---|---|
Adults | CZK 450 |
Concessions* | CZK 300 |
Families** | CZK 950 |
* Children (Ages 6 – 16), Students and Seniors (Ages 64 and above)
** Max. 2 adults + max. 5 children ages 15 and under
The Main circuit includes admission to the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, the Golden Lane and St. Vitus Cathedral.
Address
Getting there
By public transport:
Metro line A: Stop Malostranská
Tram lines 22 und 23: Stop Pražský hrad
Bus line 192: Stop Nerudova
By car:
There are no car parks in the immediate vicinity of St. George’s Basilica.
Photos: Keete 37, Базилика святого Георгия в Пражском Граде, CC BY-SA 4.0 / DXR, Apse, St. George’s Basilica, Prague 20160809 1, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Francesco Gasparetti, Pražský hrad, Bazilika sv. Jiří, interiér 04, CC BY 2.0
Texts: Individual pieces of content and information from Wikipedia EN under the Creative-Commons-Lizenz Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
English version: Machine translation by DeepL