Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia

In 1231, a young Bohemian princess named Agnes had a problem. She was betrothed to Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, arguably the most powerful ruler in the Christian world. She said no. Frederick's response, rather than rage, was almost gracious: "If she had left me for a mortal man, I would have taken vengeance with the sword, but I cannot take offense because in preference to me she has chosen the King of Heaven." With her brother King Wenceslaus I's support, Agnes built this convent instead and became its abbess, spending her days cooking for lepers and mending clothes for the poor.

The complex you're standing in was the first Gothic building north of the Alps in central Europe. That's not a small claim. King Wenceslaus I himself is buried in the Church of St. Francis just inside. Agnes died here in 1282, and nobody knows where her grave is.

The story took a darker turn when Emperor Joseph II dissolved the convent in 1782. The royal mausoleum became a chicory factory, and the rest crumbled into slum housing and workshops.

Agnes was canonized on November 12, 1989, just weeks before the Velvet Revolution swept communism from Czechoslovakia. Apparently, even saints have a sense of timing.