Levý Hradec and the Church of St. Clement
Levý Hradec is the cradle of Christianity and the Czech state. It lies east of Roztoky on a hillock over the river Vltava, a place settled in the early Stone Age, later in the age of Celts and Slavs. Today one can still see visible traces of the walls of a large stronghold, which used to be one of the most important ones locally in the time of the Přemysl dynasty. It was the first seat of power of the Přemysl state even before Prague was founded.
Around 882, the first historically documented prince of the Přemysl dynasty, Bořivoj, probably founded the oldest Christian church in Bohemia here, the pre-Romanesque rotund of St. Clement. Today, only remnants of its foundations remain under the tiles of today’s church of St. Clement. You will find Gothic murals and interesting tomb stones inside the originally Gothic church, rebuilt in Neo-Baroque style later.
Levý Hradec is a pilgrimage site, every year the first stage of the walking pilgrimage of Cyril and Methodius begins here, its ending is linked to the August pilgrimage to Velehrad.
