Loděnice Castle, Orthodox monastery and villa in Loděnice, Czech Republic

Loděnice Castle is a Neo-Renaissance villa built in 1873 by Prague entrepreneur Antonín Cífka as his family residence. Since 2008 it has housed the Orthodox Monastery of St. Wenceslas and St. Ludmila. Between the castle and the restored vineyard stands a low bell tower with 10 bells, played by the sisters every Sunday at 9:55.

Antonín Cífka, a Prague entrepreneur, had the Neo-Renaissance villa built in 1873 as his family residence. From 1924 the Seventh-day Adventist Church ran a missionary school for Slavic peoples there, and in 1936 the Prague jeweller Václav Trouška bought it. The Orthodox Church acquired the building in 2008 and reconstructed it; the monastery opened on 22 December 2013.

The monastery is dedicated to Saint Wenceslas and Saint Ludmila, saints linked to the nearby Tetín hillfort. Between the castle and the restored vineyard stands a low separate bell tower with 10 bells; the sisters ring them by hand and foot every Sunday at 9:55. The vineyard beside the castle was renewed and a Orthodox cross added to it.

The property is in the center of Loděnice and can be reached from Beroun by regional road. Because it is an active monastery, it is worth checking visiting conditions before you go.

Although the building was designed as a classic European villa, it now serves an Orthodox community, creating a meeting point between Western architecture and Eastern religious life. This kind of conversion is very rare in rural Czech settings.