Strahov Monastery

Strahov Monastery, known also as Mons Sion, was founded in 1140 by Duke Vladislaus II and Jindřich Zdík, bishop of Olomouc, on a hill between Hradčany and Petřín. Jindřich Zdík brought monks from Steinfeld in Rheinland. Strahov Monastery was one of the most famous monasteries in Bohemia, although its development was interrupted in 1420, when it was plundered by the Hussites. After a long period of decline, in the late 16^th century the abbots of Strahov began a thorough reconstruction of the monastery complex, which in the following two centuries acquired its present Baroque appearance. The monastery was closed by the communists in 1950, but it was re-established in 1992–1993 and thus remains the main centre of Premonstratensians in Bohemia.

The core of the monastery consists of the originally Romanesque Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, rebuilt in the middle of the 18^th century in Baroque style. It is three-nave church with two side towers, which in Prague panorama dominate the area between Prague Castle and Petřín. The barrel vault of the central nave is covered by a large cycle of frescos with Marian motifs, framed by stucco cartouches. The Chapel of Saint Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensian order, whose remains were ceremoniously brought to Strahov Monastery in 1627, is located next to the north side nave. The convent building with a cloister has retained its original floor plan from the 12^th century. Apart from Baroque representative rooms and the theological hall of the library, Strahov gallery is also located here; its collection from the 14^th-16^th centuries is one of the most valuable in the country. Numerous fragments of the original Romanesque walls are on display in the basement.

The exceptionally valuable Strahov Library contains 250 thousand works, 3 thousand of which are manuscripts, which makes it the largest monastery library in the Czech Republic. It contains two library halls and the so-called cabinet of curiosities, a predecessor of the modern natural historical collections. The Theological Hall and its rich stucco decorations were built between 1671 and 1679. In the newer part of the library, located in a Classicist building from 1782–1784, there is the monumental Philosophical Hall, whose walls are almost completely covered by beautifully carved cabinets.