Augustiniánský klášter v Roudnici nad Labem Monastery

Augustiniánský klášter v Roudnici nad Labem grew up on the left bank of the Elbe in a place deeply connected with Czech ecclesiastical history. The Romanesque Bishopric Castle from the 1880s, which served the Prague bishops as a rural residence and a port on the road to Budyšín and Horní Lusatia, used to stand there. This is where the Prague Bishop Jan of Dražice decided to build a monastery of a new order.

Jan of Dražice met Augustinian canaries during his stay at the Papal Court in Avignon. After returning to Bohemia in 1329 he first tried to establish a monastery with Dominicans in the Old Town of Prague, but he did not get permission from city councils. So he chose his estate in Roudnice. Between 1330 and 1332 he requested an instructor from Avignon, who apparently came from the monastery of St. Rufus. With him also apparently came the master Wilhelm from Avignon, who was entrusted with the management of the building of the monastery complex and stone bridge via Elbe. The cornerstone was laid on May 25, 1333.

The monastery was founded according to the request of King Charles IV, approved by Pope Clement VI, originally as a community intended only for Czech brothers. The initial community was made up of twelve canoes and a probošt. After the death of Bishop John in 1343, the restrictions on Bohemia were lifted. The construction of the complex was completed in 1360 by his successor Arnošt z Pardubic, the first Archbishop of Prague, who supported the expansion of the monastery network - in 1349, monasteries were created in Jaroměř and Kladsk as a private foundation of Arnoš and his brothers.

The monastery became the center of education and culture. In 1352, with the Pope's permission, the joint dorm was abolished and replaced by individual cells. The scripts developed and the library was expanded, which attributed the monasteries to international reputation. Here came the "Routine Statutes," taken from the Alsatian monastery of Marbach, containing strict regulations for monastic life, especially for the promise of poverty. The first mentioned probošt. Mikulas stands in written records from 1347.

The effect of the monastery spread gradually. Other monasteries took over the Roudní reform - in the 14th century it happened in Zahrani, Neunkirchen am Brand and later in Indersdorf, Germany, which itself became the propagator of its reform.

Today, the monastery area with the Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary, gardens, bell tower, walls and statues of saints has been protected as a national cultural monument since 2023. Visiting here means meeting with the place where the Czech monastery reform began to write.