Kostel Sv. Petra a Sv. Pavla / Church of St. Peter and St. Paul - Budec (Central Bohemia)
N 50° 11.470 E 014° 14.689
33U E 446093 N 5560158
Rotunda of the St. Peter and St. Paul at Budec hill (Central Bohemia) was build at the early medieval fort after A.D. 895 and its nave is the oldest still existing stone building at the territory of the Czech lands and north of Limes romanus.
Waymark Code: WM12GXR
Location: Středočeský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/26/2020
Views: 16
The oldest written references to Budec hillfort (which is situated close to village Zákolany, 15 km NW to Prague) come from St. Wenceslas legends from the 10th and the 11th centuries. They say, that Prince Vratislav from Premyslid family, ruling in 915-921, sent his son Václav, future Saint and Czech country patron, to Budec to learn Latin. From the end of the 10th century, when the Premyslids resided in the Prague Castle, Budec began to lose its military and administrative function and gradually faded into the background.
On the acropolis, there is still the Rotunda of St. Peter and St. Paul with a nearby cemetery. Although it was rebuilt a few times, the walls of a slightly irregular round building with 8 metres diameter are mostly original (erected after 895). That is why it is the oldest functioning building in the Czech republic and north of Limes romanus. During the 20th century Budec became a popular destination for Catholic pilgrimage. the masses and annual wanderings were renewed. A pilgrimage takes place at the end of June on the name day of the patrons St. Peter and St. Paul and also at the end of September on St. Wenceslas national day.
The church's nave rises on a circular floor plan with a diameter of 9 meters, has approximately a meter thick wall of quarry masonry and towards the cemetery into its interior brings light two windows in the shape of an angled arch with a bevelled lining. The nave of the church is finished by a conical roof. To the northwest, the circular nave is connected to a prismatic Romanesque tower from ashlar masonry with a pyramidal roof. An arched entrance portal to the tower is located on NE side. On the same façade is a small rectangular window in the lower half, two small arched windows in the upper half and one joined Romanesque window above them with arches separated by a column. The arches of the windows are filled with stone boards with cross-shaped holes. Two pairs of small arched windows are placed on the NE and SE facades of the tower. The facade of the ship and the tower is horizontally divided by a common strip. The façade of the nave is divided into two parts, the tower is equipped with another strip of its own and the tower is thus divided into three parts. The passports are also highlighted by the corners of the tower. At the northeastern part of the nave is a rectangular Baroque presbytery, which has a NE square window and is a replacement of the original horseshoe-shaped apse. It is followed by a Renaissance extension of the sacristy from 1663, which is accessible through a SE portal, and was originally added and connected to the apse.
Source: excerpted and translated from
Wikipedia
and
National Heritage Institute portal.