Zbraslav Monastery, Cistercian monastery in Praha-Zbraslav, Czech Republic.
Zbraslav Monastery, known in Latin as Aula Regia, stands at the mouth of the Lipanský potok into the Vltava in Prague-Zbraslav. The former Cistercian complex, rebuilt in the 18th century under Johann Blasius Santini-Aichl and Franz Maximilian Kaňka, was converted in 1911–1925 by Dušan Jurkovič into a three-part chateau surrounded by a park with numerous statues.
Wenceslaus II founded the monastery in 1292 on the site of his father's hunting court, settling twelve Cistercians from Sedlec there. The basilica consecrated in 1297 became the burial place of the Přemyslids: Wenceslaus II (died 1305), his daughter Elisabeth (died 1330) and Wenceslaus III, whose remains were moved from Olomouc in 1326. In 1420 the Taborites burned the monastery and scattered the royal bones.
The monastery church of St James the Greater holds a panel painting of the Madonna of Zbraslav, alongside works by Karel Škréta and Petr Brandl. The church also keeps the remains of the last Přemyslid kings, transferred there in a ceremony on 23 June 1991 and buried in the floor of the presbytery.
The monastery stands in Zbraslav at the mouth of the Lipanský potok, where it flows into the Vltava, not on the Berounka. The Baroque church of St James the Greater is open to the public during regular services. The grounds are being prepared to house a depository of the National Museum library with a study room.
The Zbraslav Chronicle was begun by Abbot Otto of Thuringia and completed in 1338 by Peter of Zittau, abbot from 1316 to 1338; it records the history of the monastery, Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire from 1253 onward.
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