Radnice - Stará Boleslav, Czech republic - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

"Stará Boleslav is a historical Czech town and the oldest pilgrimage site in Central Bohemia. It was an early Premyslid dynasty stronghold built in the late 9th and 10th century and surrounded by stone ramparts. Its fame came from a major historical event: the murder of Prince Wenceslas by his brother Boleslav at the gate of St Cosmas and Damian Church on September 28, 935 (or 929). After his death, Wenceslas was proclaimed a saint by the church and became the patron saint of the Czech nation as well as a symbol of moral reinforcement during hard times.

After the year 1039, Bretislaus I established a new Romanesque basilica dedicated to St Wenceslas (consecrated in 1046 by the Prague bishop) at the site of the murder and pilgrimage site. Moreover, Bretislaus I had the Collegiate Chapter of St Cosmas and Damian, the oldest in Bohemia, built next to the basilica. By the end of the 11th century, the adjoining Romanesque St Clement Chapel was built. It is valuable for its Romanesque frescos from the latter half of the 12th century depicting scenes from St Clement's life and martyrdom.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV used to visit the town in the 14th century, supported the Chapter and had new ramparts built.

The Hussite Wars starting in 1420 represented the beginning of the town's decline. Most of the buildings, including the Chapter house and the churches, were burned down, and the Chapter fled to Žitava.

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Boleslav regained its earlier fame through the cult of Madonna. In 1617-1625 the new baroque Church of the Assumption of Mary was built by Jacoppo de Vaccani, containing a relief of the Madonna called the Palladium of the Czech Lands. After World War2 the German population was expelled.

In 2003, the St Wenceslas National Pilgrimage to Stará Boleslav was renewed and is now the largest official celebration of St Wenceslas Day (Czech Statehood Day, September 28). On this occasion Pope Benedict XVI visited the St Wenceslas basilica and held mass for over 50,000 people who had gathered in Stará Boleslav."

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Year photo was taken: 1920

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