The Rotunda of St. Catherine ( cz, Rotunda sv. Kateřiny), known as the Znojmo Rotunda (''Znojemská rotunda''), is a Romanesque rotunda located in

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It is the town's most valuable monument, and features one of the oldest fresco compositions in the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since ...

. Besides the religious motives, of particular importance is the praising portrayal of the ruling

Přemyslid dynasty The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemyslid ( cs, Přemyslovci, german: Premysliden, pl, Przemyślidzi) was a Bohemian royal dynasty that reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia (9th century–130 ...

. The building was originally a castle chapel, dedicated to Virgin Mary, built in the mid-11th century. The painting was commissioned by Konrad II of Znojmo on the occasion of his wedding with Mary (''Marija''), daughter of Uroš I of Serbia in 1134. Apart of the donor couple, Konrad and Mary, the identity of the other depicted members of the dynasty is disputed among the historians. With two exceptions being the Přemysl the Ploughman, the legendary ancestor of the dynasty, and Vratislaus I, the first

King of Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...

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The Ducal Rotunda of the Virgin Mary and St Catherine

{{Authority control Churches in Znojmo Round churches National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings