The Cistercian Abbey of Zbraslav ( la, Aula Regia, cs, Zbraslavský klášter) located in

Zbraslav Zbraslav (; german: Königsaal; Latin ''Aula Regia'') is a Prague districts, municipal district and cadastral area of Prague. The southernmost district of Prague, it lies on the Vltava River in the national administrative district of Prague 16. T ...

near

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

(today part of Prague) was one of the most significant

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

of the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

in the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

(present-day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

). Founded by King

Wenceslaus II of Bohemia Wenceslaus II Přemyslid ( cs, Václav II.; pl, Wacław II Czeski; 27 SeptemberK. Charvátová, ''Václav II. Král český a polský'', Prague 2007, p. 18. 1271 – 21 June 1305) was King of Bohemia (1278–1305), Duke of Cracow (1291–13 ...

in 1292 it became the royal

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

of the last members of the

Přemyslid dynasty The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemyslid ( cs, Přemyslovci, german: Premysliden, pl, Przemyślidzi) was a Bohemian royal dynasty that reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia (9th century–130 ...

. The abbey was abolished by the Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...

in 1789. The best-known

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of this monastery was

Peter of Zittau Peter of Zittau ( cz, Petr Žitavský; –1339) was a Bohemian churchman and historian. Born in Zittau, he entered the Cistercian monastery of Aula Regia (Zbraslav), founded by Wenceslaus II in 1292, and became the monastery's official historian. ...

(† 1339) who wrote the ''

Zbraslav Chronicle Zbraslav (; german: Königsaal; Latin ''Aula Regia'') is a municipal district and cadastral area of Prague. The southernmost district of Prague, it lies on the Vltava River in the national administrative district of Prague 16. The former indepen ...

'' ( la, Chronicon Aulae Regiae), the most important historical source for the history of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

in the first half of the 14th century. The Zbraslav abbey is also known for the

Madonna of Zbraslav The Zbraslav Madonna (c. 1360) comes from the parish church of St James the Greater in Zbraslav.Royt 2003, p.62 It is on long-term loan at the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery in Prague. History of the painting The Cistercian abbey ...

, an outstanding Gothic painting from the 1340s.

References

Cistercian monasteries in the Czech Republic Baroque architecture in Prague Baroque monasteries Christian monasteries in Prague Burial sites of the House of Přemysl National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic {{Christian-monastery-stub

See also

References