Strahov Monastery

At Petřín Hill stands the large monastery of the Premonstratensians. A monastery has been located here for nearly 900 years. The first building was destroyed by fire in 1258. A Gothic style monastery was then built, with some baroque additions done at a later time. During the turbulent history of Bohemia, this complex was shot at and plundered countless times. It is pretty much a miracle that this monastery still has an impressive library with writings from the 9th and 10th century. It has a beautiful carved ceiling, baroque bookcases and a number of antique globes. This is the national repository of Czech literature and other writings. The library has a collection of more than 200,000 books. Be sure to take a look at the oldest guest book in Prague, with the signatures of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton among others.

A separate department - for which you also have to pay separately - is the Strahov Gallery. This gallery was opened in the middle of the 19th century, but in the communist era a large part of the collection disappeared. When the Premonstratensians repossessed the monastery, many works of art were found or claimed back. Now you can once again admire a beautiful collection of paintings, in total more than 1500. The monastery, the library and the gallery combined make this one of the a must see sights in Prague. For those who are planning to go cycling in Prague: a bike ride to the monastery and the nearby Petřín Park is recommended.