Top 10 Monasteries in Czechia
The Czech lands were among the great monastic provinces of medieval and Baroque Central Europe. Benedictines, Premonstratensians, Cistercians, and Jesuits built abbeys and colleges whose libraries, frescoes, and breweries still astonish. The Hussite Wars of the fifteenth century devastated many houses; the Counter-Reformation rebuilt them in exuberant Baroque; and the Communist regime of 1948–1989 dissolved religious orders and turned monasteries into barracks, archives, and prisons. Since 1989, many have been returned and restored. These ten range from Prague's hilltop libraries to the great rural abbeys of Bohemia and Moravia.
1. Strahov Monastery, Prague
Founded in 1143, this Premonstratensian abbey on the hill above Prague is famous above all for its two great library halls — the Theological Hall of 1679 and the Philosophical Hall of 1794 — among the most beautiful library interiors in the world, their ceilings covered in allegorical frescoes and their shelves holding over 200,000 volumes. The monastery also runs a working brewery and a picture gallery.
2. Břevnov Monastery, Prague
The oldest male monastery in Bohemia, Břevnov was founded in 993 by St Adalbert and Duke Boleslav II. Rebuilt in High Baroque by the Dientzenhofer family of architects in the early eighteenth century, it preserves a Romanesque crypt beneath its splendid church of St Margaret. The Benedictine community brews beer, reviving a tradition documented here for a thousand years.
3. Sedlec Ossuary and Cistercian Abbey, Kutná Hora
The Cistercian abbey at Sedlec, founded in 1142, was one of the wealthiest in Bohemia, its great Gothic Church of the Assumption rebuilt in a unique "Baroque Gothic" by Jan Santini Aichel. It is best known, however, for the adjacent ossuary, where the bones of some 40,000 people are arranged into chandeliers, garlands, and coats of arms — one of the most extraordinary memento mori in Europe.
4. Broumov Monastery, Náchod region
A Benedictine abbey in the far northeast of Bohemia, Broumov was rebuilt by the Dientzenhofers in the early eighteenth century into one of the country's finest Baroque complexes. The surrounding region preserves a remarkable group of village Baroque churches designed by the same architects. The monastery library and the Romanesque-shrouded shroud relic draw visitors and scholars.
5. Kladruby Monastery, Plzeň region
Founded in 1115, this Benedictine abbey near Stříbro in western Bohemia is celebrated for its church of the Assumption, transformed by Jan Santini Aichel between 1712 and 1726 into a masterpiece of Baroque Gothic — a soaring vaulted interior whose ribs trace star patterns of breathtaking complexity. Dissolved in 1785, it is now a state-owned monument.
6. Velehrad, Moravia
Velehrad, a Cistercian abbey founded around 1205, is the most important pilgrimage site in Moravia and is associated in popular devotion with Saints Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs. The vast Baroque basilica draws tens of thousands of pilgrims each July; John Paul II visited in 1990. It remains a focal point of Czech Catholic and Slavic Christian identity.
7. Vyšší Brod Monastery, South Bohemia
Founded in 1259 by the Rožmberk family, Vyšší Brod (Hohenfurth) is one of the few Cistercian monasteries in the Czech lands with a continuous community. Its Gothic church, chapter house, and a celebrated library survive intact, and the abbey once held the famous Vyšší Brod Altarpiece, a landmark of fourteenth-century Bohemian painting now in the National Gallery in Prague.
8. Zlatá Koruna, South Bohemia
A Cistercian abbey founded in 1263 by King Přemysl Otakar II on the Vltava south of Český Krumlov, Zlatá Koruna ("Golden Crown") preserves one of the best-kept Gothic monastic complexes in Bohemia, including a rare two-story chapel and a fine cloister. Dissolved in 1785, it is now a museum of Czech literature and book culture.
9. Plasy Monastery, Plzeň region
A Cistercian abbey founded in 1144, Plasy was rebuilt in Baroque by Jan Santini Aichel, whose engineers floated the entire convent building on a forest of oak piles driven into marshy ground — a hydraulic feat still functioning today. The convent, with its self-supporting staircase and water management system, is a monument to Baroque engineering as much as to monasticism.
10. Osek Monastery, Ústí region
Founded around 1196 in the foothills of the Ore Mountains, Osek is one of the oldest Cistercian abbeys in Bohemia. Its chapter house preserves rare Romanesque sculpture, including a famous reading desk, while the church was rebuilt in lavish Baroque. The community endured persecution under Communism and the monastery has been gradually restored since 1989.
Planning Your Visit
Czechia's monasteries form natural clusters: the Prague houses (Strahov, Břevnov), the Santini Baroque-Gothic trail in western Bohemia (Kladruby, Plasy, Sedlec), and the southern Cistercian abbeys near Český Krumlov (Vyšší Brod, Zlatá Koruna). Most are reachable by train and bus, and several offer guided library tours that must be booked. Use the map to plan a route linking Prague with the Bohemian and Moravian abbeys, and check opening seasons, as some rural monasteries close in winter.