CONVENT OF SAINT AGNES, Convent Of Saint Agnes

Hi, my name’s Marcy, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the wonders of the world: the former Convent of Saint Agnes, a medieval architecture complex that is home to Bohemian Gothic paintings and sculptures.

The Convent of Saint Agnes is named after its founder, Agnes of Bohemia, the daughter of Ottokar I, King of Bohemia from 1198 to 1230. The young Agnes was raised in a convent, and although she had been promised in marriage to the Emperor Frederick II, she withdrew from the engagement after the death of her father and retired for the rest of her life among the Poor Clares. The building dates to 1231, although it was built over the remains of a previous monastery.

Since Agnes was a princess, she had financial resources and political influence, and since she had grown up in a convent, she was familiar with the convent lifestyle. She therefore contributed to the construction of what was a rather large building for the period, comprising a church and a cloister, one of the first in the city built in Gothic style.

Today the Convent is home to the Bohemian Gothic collection of the National Museum....