St. George's Church Castle Hill - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.465 E 014° 24.122
33U E 457227 N 5548928
The fourth courtyard of Prague Castle and St. George's Basilica and Monastery
Waymark Code: WM18A6A
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 06/26/2023
Views: 1
We continue our tour of Prague Castle...
By passing through the passage between the walls of St. Vitus Cathedral and the building of the Old Royal Palace, we reach the fourth courtyard of Prague Castle. We have also been there when we admired the eastern side of St. Vitus Cathedral, as documented in this Waymark: (
visit link) On the opposite side of the courtyard, there is a complex of buildings that make up the St. George's Basilica and Monastery. While the basilica has a Baroque facade, its origins are much older. It is one of the oldest architectural landmarks of Prague Castle. The original Romanesque church was founded in 920 (yes, 920, it is not a typo ;-)) by Duke Vratislav I. After the establishment of the neighboring St. George's Monastery in 973, the church was expanded and rebuilt into a three-aisled basilica in the early Romanesque style.
"Consecrated in 921, the basilica is one of the oldest churches in Prague built in the Romanesque style. The construction of the church was begun by Vratislaus I. At the time of Vratislaus' death in 921, the church had been completed but not consecrated. Wenceslaus I completed the project, and upon her death he buried his grandmother, Ludmila of Bohemia there.
The basilica was prominent at the beginning of the spread of Christianity in Bohemia. Its collegiate church was at the center of the territory until the foundation of the Archdiocese of Prague in 973. In 976, the first building of the Benedictine St. George's Abbey was erected on the north side of the basilica, and the basilica served as an abbey church. The original three-nave building was completed with a choir, a tribune for the nuns of the convent and a crypt.
Founded in 973 by Mlada, the Convent of Saint George sits next to the basilica.The abbess of this community had the right to crown the Bohemian queen consort.
In 1142, Conrad III entered Bohemia to reinstate his brother-in-law Vladislaus II as duke. Conrad laid siege to the Prague Castle. During the siege, the church and convent suffered heavy damage caused by a fire. The damage was repaired between 1145 and 1151 and two towers were added to the church on that occasion. The northern, smaller tower is nicknamed "Eve", while the southern, larger, tower is nicknamed "Adam". The Baroque façade dates from the late 17th century."
Source and more information: (
visit link)