The park was established in 1534 for Emperor Ferdinand I. In 1555-1556, his son Ferdinand of the Tirol designed and built a star-shaped summer house called "Hvězda" (Star) in the Renaissance style.
The park is located close to the Institute. It is a nice place for walks, jogging or just sitting on a bank and relaxing. The summer palace is the centre of the park, about 1 km from the Institute (westward); it is open in Summer daily except Mondays, from 10 to 18.
We show the way from the Institute in our "Guide in pictures".
Former windmill built in 1722, today a pension
The oldest monastery in Bohemia, founded in 993 by Bishop St. Adalbert. Seat of the Slavonic congregation of St Adalbert of the Order of St. Benedict. Below the monastery church of St. Margaret are remains of the original church built in the pre-Romanesque style after 1045.
Location: approx. 300 m southeast of the "Větrník" refectory (downhill) and the same distance east of the "Hvězda" dormitory. (we offer a description how to get there in a separate document)
Guided tours (in summer) on Saturdays and Sundays 10, 14, 16; on working days only on preliminary request .
More about history:
In 993, St. Adalbert as the Prague bishop and Boleslav II as the Czech duke founded the Břevnov monastery, the oldest still existing friary in Bohemia. St. Adalbert brought the monks of the St. Benedict order from the Roman monastery at Aventine.
The first stone church, the patrons of which were St. Alexis, St. Boniface and St. Benedict, was built in the years 1035-1089. The remains of its crypt have been preserved up to the present time.
In 1262, the Hungarian king Béla II donated to the monastery a part of remnants of St. Margaret and, later on, her cult developed here. She is the patron of the present archabbot basilica.
In 1663-1700, under the abbot Thomas Sartorius, the monastery was again rebuilt, but it suffered damage through a fire. A part of the convent still stands and bears the abbot‘s name.
The medieval configuration of the monastery was totally suppressed by later modifications. The today’s monastery, a vast two-storey complex with three yards in the high-baroque style, was built by Christoph and Kilian Ignatius Dienzenhofer in the years 1709 - 1720.
Many areas modified in the baroque or classicism style were preserved in the interior. Of them, the Theresian Hall excels with its beautiful frescos on the ceiling and two marble fireplaces.
The rocky natural park located about 2 km from the Institute (northwest).
We describe the way from the Institute and show some photos in our "Guide in pictures".
The guidebook states (we leave without corrections):
The wide exposition of the Prague museum presents to the visitor a rich - more than 120 years old - history of public transit showing a lot of archive documents, photos as well as models. A unique collection of historical vehicles from the oldest museum vehicle - horse-tram from 1886 - up to the present time, forms a part of the permanent exposition.
Location:
Střešovice tram depot [Vozovna Střešovice]; Patočkova Street 4, Prague 6.
Opening hours: Saturdays, Sundays and holidays 9:00 - 17:00
General information - FAQ - What is where - guides with map and pictures
21.7.2008 Josef Jůza
