The Name and Its Hidden Meaning
The word "Strahov" derives from the Old Czech verb strahovati, meaning to guard or watch over. From the very beginning the monastery was intended as a spiritual guardian above Prague and above the approach to Prague Castle. The Premonstratensians have fulfilled this watchful role since 1143 — and the monastery still calls itself by the Latin name Monasterium Strahoviense, or in older usage Mons Sion, Mount Zion.
History: Nine Centuries of Continuity
The origins of Strahov go back to 1140, when the Bishop of Olomouc, Jindřich Zdík, and Prince Vladislav II conceived a plan to build a monastery opposite Prague Castle. At first the site was home to the Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre, a community inspired by Zdík's own pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but it was not until 1143 that a community of Premonstratensians arrived from Steinfeld in the Rhineland and gave the monastery its enduring character.
The Premonstratensians first erected a timber building and soon began constructing a Romanesque basilica from locally quarried opuka limestone. By around 1149 a stone church — or at least its chancel — was likely already standing, and by 1182 the entire monastic complex was nearly complete. A great fire in 1258 forced a rebuilding: the Romanesque nave arcades and walls were replaced by the then-fashionable Gothic structure.
The Hussite Wars of 1420 saw the monastery plundered and left it in long decline. The turning point came with Abbot Jan Lohelius in 1586: he initiated a comprehensive restoration of the buildings and the community's spiritual life, established monastic workshops, began rebuilding the book collection and had the dilapidated church reconstructed. His successor Kašpar of Questenberg completed the rebuilding and in 1627 brought to Strahov the relics of Saint Norbert, the founder of the Premonstratensian order, from Magdeburg — where they rest to this day in the monastery basilica.
At the close of the Thirty Years' War, in 1648, the monastery was again sacked — this time by a Finnish regiment of the Swedish army, which carried off a large part of the precious manuscripts and treasures. The Baroque reconstruction in the second half of the seventeenth and first decades of the eighteenth century, directed by architects Orsi, Mathey and Palliardi, gave the monastery the appearance it has today. The French siege of Prague in 1742 brought artillery damage, followed by yet another round of restoration.
In 1950 the Communist regime forcibly closed the monastery as part of the so-called Action K, and many of the monks ended up in internment camps. An archaeological survey the Communists themselves commissioned uncovered valuable evidence of the original Romanesque structure. After the Velvet Revolution the monastery was returned to the Premonstratensians in 1992, and extensive restoration work continues to this day.
Architecture: Layers of Eight Centuries
The monastic complex is a collection of buildings from many different eras, hiding beneath its Baroque facades a surprisingly large amount of Romanesque masonry. The spiritual and architectural heart of the whole complex is the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 63 metres long and 10 metres wide. The original Romanesque three-nave basilica with three apses underwent a Gothic rebuilding after the 1258 fire, received its Baroque appearance in the seventeenth century — at which point the two Romanesque towers at the western end gave way to towers above the transept — and contains the tomb of Saint Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensian order.
The Conventual Building originally enclosed a square Romanesque courtyard adjacent to the basilica. At its centre is an old cistern, fed by springs from Petřín Hill, of demonstrably Romanesque origin — and still in use today. The building underwent extensive Baroque reconstruction after 1682.
The distinctive silhouette of the monastery is defined by the Prelature (Abbot's House), a long wing open towards the city of Prague. The abbot was a figure of political as well as spiritual authority, and the prelature reflects this — it included representative halls, oratories and a chapel. Romanesque halls have been partially preserved in its basement. Adjoining the prelature is the Provisorate building of 1718, whose façade is decorated with a statue of Saint Norbert from 1740.
The complex also includes the Church of Saint Roch — today serving as the ticket office and visitor centre — the main monastery gate of 1674 with sculptures by Jan Antonín Quitainer, and a column with a statue of Saint Norbert (1631) by Václav Raussel and Zachariáš Bussi. In the garden stands the statue of the Virgin Mary in Exile (1954) by Alessandro Monteleone, a site of pilgrimage and of remarkable views over Prague.
The Strahov Library — the Heart of the Monastery
The fame of Strahov Monastery rests largely on its extraordinary library, one of the most valuable and best-preserved historical libraries in Bohemia. The collection holds over 200,000 volumes, including approximately 3,000 manuscripts and 1,500 incunabula. The oldest item is the Strahov Gospel Book from around 860, produced in Tours during the Carolingian Renaissance — written in gold and silver on purple vellum, it is among the most precious illuminated manuscripts of the Carolingian period preserved in the Czech lands.
The library consists of two celebrated halls connected by corridors that also serve as library space. At the end of one of these corridors is a remarkable Cabinet of Curiosities — a forerunner of later museums — containing natural and artificial rarities, stuffed animals and marine shells.
The Theological Hall was built between 1671 and 1674 to designs by Giovanni Domenico Orsi. Its vault is decorated with ceiling frescoes painted by the Strahov Premonstratensian friar Siard Nosecký between 1721 and 1727, depicting scenes from the history of theology. The shelves hold predominantly theological literature, the majority being various editions of the Bible. On the façade hangs a portrait of Emperor Joseph II — a reminder that Strahov survived the Josephine dissolution of monasteries in 1782 by arguing that its library served as a scholarly and educational institution.
The Philosophical Hall was created between 1783 and 1785 by converting a former granary, with a new façade by Ignác Jan Palliardi and sculptures by Ignác František Platzer. In 1792 the Baroque furnishings of the library of the dissolved Premonstratensian monastery at Louka near Znojmo were moved here. The monumental ceiling fresco The Spiritual Development of Mankind was painted in 1794 by František Antonín Maulbertsch and his pupil Martin Michl. The hall was completed in 1797 and stands as one of the most impressive Baroque interiors in Europe.
The Strahov Gospel Book (c. 860)
The oldest book in the monastic collection, created in Tours at the height of the Carolingian Renaissance. Written in gold and silver on purple vellum, it is one of the most valuable illuminated manuscripts of the Carolingian period preserved in the Czech lands. It serves as a reminder that monastic libraries were for centuries the only places where knowledge was systematically preserved and passed on.
The Strahov Picture Gallery and Treasury
Alongside the library the monastery also houses a remarkable picture gallery. The collection grew from the eighteenth century onward; Abbot Jeroným Josef Zeidler developed it systematically in the nineteenth century, partly in connection with the monastery's ownership of Dürer's Feast of the Rose Garlands. Before the Communist takeover the gallery held over a thousand works; the most valuable were transferred to the National Gallery. Today the Strahov picture gallery contains approximately 2,000 paintings, with part of the collection open to the public.
In 2017 a new exhibition called the Strahov Treasury opened, displaying liturgical objects of artistic craftsmanship: chalices and reliquaries from the Middle Ages to the present day, and richly embroidered liturgical vestments from the seventeenth century.
The Monastic Gardens
Strahov Monastery was surrounded by agricultural land and gardens from its earliest days. In the Middle Ages vineyards flourished here; as the climate cooled over the centuries these gradually gave way to the abbot's garden and the conventual garden that exist today. The gardens are now largely open to the public. Underground channels have supplied their irrigation since Romanesque times, fed by springs rising from Petřín Hill.
From the viewpoint by the statue of the Virgin Mary in Exile, one of Prague's finest panoramas opens up — Prague Castle, the rooftops of Malá Strana and the spires of the Old Town. Dan Brown himself used the path through the Petřín gardens to reach the monastery during his research visits.
Strahov Monastery in The Secret of All Secrets
Dan Brown made six research visits to Prague while preparing The Secret of All Secrets, and Strahov Monastery was among the places that captivated him most. In an interview for Czech Radio Radiožurnál in September 2025 Brown said:
"It's hard to look at St Vitus Cathedral and not say: wow. I love Strahov Monastery, I love the Baroque library in the Klementinum."
The magazine Reflex captured Brown in the Strahov library during one of his preparatory visits in 2022. The library — with its vast collection of ancient manuscripts, the mysterious atmosphere of its Baroque halls and its Cabinet of Curiosities — embodies precisely the themes that run through all of Brown's work: hidden knowledge, the interplay of science and mysticism, and the continuity of human understanding across the centuries.
In the novel Strahov Monastery lends the story atmosphere and dignity as one of Prague's iconic landmarks, alongside the Klementinum, Charles Bridge, St Vitus Cathedral and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Brown was particularly drawn to the Philosophical Hall, whose ceiling fresco is devoted to the spiritual development of mankind — a theme that lies at the very heart of a novel about the boundaries of human consciousness and knowledge.
Practical Information for Visitors
Address: Strahovské nádvoří 132/1, 118 00 Prague 1 – Hradčany
Opening hours: Library and gallery: daily 9:00–17:00 (closed over lunch)
Admission (library): adults 150 CZK
Phone: +420 233 107 718
Website: www.strahovskyklaster.cz
Getting there: Tram no. 22 to the Pohořelec stop; or on foot through Petřín from Malostranská metro station
What to see in the complex: Strahov Library (Theological and Philosophical Halls with the Cabinet of Curiosities) · Strahov Picture Gallery · Strahov Treasury · Monastery Basilica (with the tomb of Saint Norbert) · Monastery Gardens with the panoramic viewpoint
Tip: The monastery can also be reached from Petřín Hill along a scenic path through the gardens — the same route Brown walked during his research. The viewpoint by the statue of the Virgin Mary in Exile offers one of the finest views of Prague available anywhere in the city.
Why Visit
Strahov Monastery is a place where eight centuries of religious life, scholarly endeavour and artistic patronage have accumulated into a single extraordinary whole. The Baroque halls of the Philosophical and Theological Libraries rank among the most beautiful library interiors in Europe. The garden views over Prague are unrivalled. And for readers of The Secret of All Secrets, Strahov is the place where Dan Brown searched — and found — the spirit of ancient knowledge that permeates the entire novel.