★★★★★ 5.0
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St. George's Basilica
You know what's wild? You're standing in front of the second oldest church in ALL of Prague Castle... and it's built on top of a pagan ritual site where ancient Slavs once worshipped their gods! See that baroque facade from 1671? It's actually hiding something WAY older – the original Romanesque walls from 920 AD are still tucked inside, making this place over 1,100 years old. Step through that doorway and boom – you'll spot something most people totally miss: those massive foundation stones on your left? They're from the ORIGINAL basilica that Prince Vratislav built, and get this... archaeologists found human bones underneath from sacrificial burials dating back to the 800s! The baroque makeover tried to cover up the medieval vibes, but if you look up at the ceiling vaults, you can still see where the 12th-century stonework peeks through the plaster. Here's my favorite secret: St. George's holds the tomb of Ludmila of Bohemia – grandmother of Good King Wenceslas from the Christmas carol – and she was literally strangled with her own veil by assassins in 921! Her silver tomb is the oldest surviving royal tomb in Central Europe, and locals still leave flowers there every September 16th, exactly 1,103 years after her murder.
Did You Know?
- St. George's Basilica is the final resting place of the Přemyslid dynasty, the first Czech royal family—its main nave houses the tombs of princes, including Vratislav I, the church’s founder and father of Saint Wenceslaus, the beloved patron saint of the Czech Republic. This makes it a unique historical site where visitors can literally walk among the graves of the nation’s founding rulers.
- Hidden behind its striking Baroque facade, the basilica is actually one of the best-preserved Romanesque churches in Prague, with its austere, monumental interior and iconic twin white towers dating back to a major reconstruction after a devastating fire in 1142. The contrast between the exterior and interior architectural styles surprises many visitors and offers a vivid lesson in the layers of Prague’s history.
- The adjacent St. George’s Convent, founded in 973, was the oldest and most influential female monastery in medieval Bohemia, run by Benedictine nuns who played a key role in preserving manuscripts and fostering cultural development—their detailed records and manuscripts are now treasures in the National Library of the Czech Republic. This highlights the basilica’s role not just as a religious site, but as a center of learning and culture in early Czech history.