★★★★★ 5.0
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Břevnov Monastery
You're standing where Czech Christianity literally began – right here in 993, Prince Boleslav II and Bishop Adalbert hammered out the deal that created the very first monastery in all of Bohemia. Before these baroque beauties went up, this hillside was just pagan sacred groves where our ancestors worshipped trees... talk about a spiritual makeover! See that stunning white and gold facade? That's actually version 3.0 of this place – the original wooden monastery burned down, the Gothic replacement got trashed in the Hussite Wars, and then in 1708, the genius Christoph Dientzenhofer basically said "let's go HUGE" and created what you're looking at now. Step through that entrance and boom – you're hit with this insane oval nave that completely messes with your head... Dientzenhofer literally bent the rules of baroque architecture to squeeze maximum drama into minimum space. Here's what kills me – those Benedictine monks still live here, still brew beer using their original 13th-century recipe, and yes, they run a HOTEL upstairs where you can literally sleep in a monastery cell. Mozart's buddy Beethoven hung out here composing, and during Communist times, the secret police used the crypt for... well, let's just say NOT prayer meetings. Wild place, right?
Did You Know?
- Founded in 993 by Prince Boleslaus II and St. Adalbert (Vojtěch), Břevnov Monastery is the oldest male monastery in Bohemia and one of the oldest continuously existing monastic sites in Central Europe, established to help spread Christianity in a still largely pagan region.
- The present Baroque complex, including the stunning Basilica of St. Margaret, was designed by renowned architects Christoph and Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer in the early 18th century; the basilica boasts a single nave adorned with frescoes of St. Adalbert’s life by Johann Jakob Steinfels and a masterpiece altarpiece by Peter Brandl, one of Bohemia’s greatest painters.
- Břevnov Monastery holds a quirky place in Czech cultural history as the oldest documented site of beer brewing in the country, with brewing traditions dating back to its founding—today, visitors can still enjoy beer from the monastery’s own brewery, making it a fun and tasty stop for families and history buffs alike.