Mělník
- Classification
- Monastery
- Country
- Czechia
- Region
- Mělník
- Address
- Českolipská 1111/19, 27601 Mělník, Česko
Already in pre-state times, the settlement at the site of present-day Mělník represented an important centre of Bohemian tribes. The Psovans lived here, and among others St Ludmila was descended from them. Later — after the mid-13th century — King Přemysl Otakar II founded a new royal town here, and beyond its walls gave permission for the establishment of an Augustinian monastery at the initiative of two local noblemen (Smil of Citov and Pavel of Luštěnice). The promising development of the convent, known as Pšovka (Šopka), was cut short in March 1421 when the Hussites killed the Augustinians and burned the monastic buildings. Life returned here only slowly from the close of the 15th century, and the pre-Hussite level was never again reached. In 1611 the Pšov convent was plundered by Mělník recruits, and the town of Mělník temporarily assumed its landed endowment. Only after the defeat of the second Estates' uprising did the monastery begin a second period of uninterrupted activity, associated with a significant Baroque remodelling. Under Joseph II the monastery was suppressed and its properties purchased by the Lobkowicz family, who adapted the convent into the administrative centre of their estate. When it was taken from them in 1949, the State Farms established an apprentice school with a boarding house there. After the restitutions in the 1990s, when the property returned to the Lobkowicz family, the building fell into decay. The situation was further worsened by the floods of 2002. Only from 2020 did the company Senlife, s.r.o., which has adapted it as a care home for senior citizens with support services, begin to reconstruct the devastated building. From August 2021 guided tours describing the long history of the site have been taking place in the building.
VitVit (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0