Strahov Monastery

Before your eyes is a white monastery complex positioned where guards once watched the approach to the castle. That's what Strahov means in Czech: to stand guard. Founded in 1143, it's the oldest Premonstratensian monastery in Bohemia. Fast forward to the 1780s. Emperor Joseph II was closing monasteries across his empire. Most vanished. Strahov survived because of books. Abbot Václav Mayer opened the library to the public. Smart move. He even had a medallion of Joseph II mounted on the library facade, flattering the emperor as an enlightened ruler who valued knowledge. The emperor let them stay. Behind those walls sit 200,000 volumes in 2 halls decorated with baroque frescoes. The oldest book? A 9th century Gospel written on parchment. The Theological Hall dates to 1679. The Philosophical Hall came in 1794, its ceiling painted by Anton Maulbertsch in 6 months. The monastery has survived worse than imperial decrees. Hussites burned it in 1420. Swedish troops plundered it during the Thirty Years War. French cannons damaged it in 1742. Communists seized it in 1950.