Strahov Monastery

Strahov was founded in 1143 and the Premonstratensians are there again, which makes it one of the oldest houses of the order anywhere. Its fame rests on two rooms. The Theological Hall of the 1670s is barrel-vaulted with stucco frames around ceiling paintings, lined with theological volumes and set with astronomical globes; the Philosophical Hall of the 1780s is taller, walnut-shelved to the ceiling with a gallery, and its vault carries Franz Anton Maulbertsch's fresco of the Spiritual Development of Mankind, painted in six months. Between them runs a corridor of cabinets holding the monastery's curiosity collection - shells, minerals, dried sea creatures, a narwhal tusk, two desiccated sharks - assembled in the eighteenth century. There is a picture gallery, an early Gothic church much rebuilt in baroque, and a brewery. The terrace outside gives one of the best views over the city.

History

After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1138, Jindřich Zdík, bishop of Olomouc, resolved to found a house of regular canons in Prague, and after a first attempt in 1140 Premonstratensians came from Steinfeld in the Rhineland; the abbey was founded in 1143 by Zdík, Bishop John of Prague and Duke Vladislaus II. The monks built first in wood around a Romanesque basilica, then in stone, and the monastery was renewed after a heavy fire in 1258. Citizens of Prague plundered it in 1420, burning books and furnishings, and it stayed nearly moribund until Abbot Jan Lohelius, from Teplá, took over in 1586 and rebuilt the church, abbey buildings, dormitory and refectory, so that by 1594 a community of twelve lived here again. His successor Kašpar Questenberg added the lower cloisters, the prelature, St Elizabeth's Hospital and a brewery, and in 1627 brought the remains of St Norbert, founder of the order, from Magdeburg to the abbey church. Swedish troops looted the church and library at the end of the Thirty Years' War, and repairs followed. Abbot Jeroným Hirnheim built the Theological Hall library, completed in 1679, the church and monastery were rebuilt again after Prague was bombarded in 1742, and Abbot Václav Mayer, abbot from 1779, built the new Classical library now called the Philosophical Hall, the last great building work at Strahov; the library holds over 200,000 volumes, and its ceilings carry frescoes by Siard Nosecký and Anton Maulbertsch (Wikipedia, Strahov Monastery).

The main sights

• The Philosophical Hall - walnut shelves to the vault under Maulbertsch's fresco.
• The Theological Hall - barrel-vaulted, stuccoed, with astronomical globes.
• A cabinet of curiosities - shells, minerals, a narwhal tusk and dried sharks.
• A terrace view - over the whole of Prague from above Mala Strana.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Before you go

The library halls are viewed from the doorways only - you cannot walk into them, which disappoints people expecting otherwise. Photography carries an extra fee. It is crowded and the queue moves slowly.

Nearby

Prague Castle is a short walk east; Petrin hill is south.

Key facts