Behind the cathedral is the Church of St. George, occupying the spot where: one of the earliest Christian churches in Bohemia, built by Prince Vratislav I. about the year 915, once stood. Princess Mlada, sister of Boleslav II., in 915 here built a Benedictine convent, of which she became abbess, and which became very famous in Bohemia. Charles IV. granted to the abbess of this convent the right of crowning the Queens of Bohemia. They retained this right up to the suppression of the convent by the Emperor Joseph II. It was then transferred to the superior of the Chapter of Noble Ladies, which the Empress Maria Theresa had founded.
The first Church of St. Gesive was destroyed in 1142, during the troubles that followed the death of Sobeslav.[1] A Romanesque building was then erected, which is the finest building in that style of architecture in Bohemia. Though here also restorations have taken place, the church has, on the whole, retained its ancient character, and it is well worth the attention of the traveller. It contains the graves of several of the most ancient rulers of Bohemia and of their wives. The ancient frescoes in this church and the chapels of St. Ludmilla—where that saint and Princess Mlada, the first abbess of St. George’s convent, are buried—and of St. Anne require particular notice. During the recent restorations the stucco ornaments that concealed the old Romanesque doors and windows have been removed. Of great interest are the four very ancient towers on the Hradcany Hill, which date from the time of Ottokar II. and have already been mentioned. They overlook the Jeleni Prikop (Stag’s Ditch), and are reached by the Jiriska Ulice, passing through buildings that are used as Government offices. These towers were used as prisons, and the White Tower in
- ↑ See my Bohemia: A Historical Sketch.
