St. George's Convent () was a community of

Benedictine nuns The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they ...

located in

Prague Castle Prague Castle (; ) is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic serving as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic. Built in the 9th century, the castle has long served as the seat of power for List of rulers ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

(now the

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

) between 973 and 1782. Founded in 973, the abbey was next to the seat of ecclesiastical and state power in Bohemia and occasionally the entire

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, and played an important historical role. During the Middle Ages, the convent was one of the richest in the

Crown of Bohemia The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods with feudal obligations to the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of the Hol ...

. Around 1400, about 50 nuns (including those still before their

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...

) lived in the abbey. Although no longer active, the nunnery's building and the attached Basilica dedicated to Saint George still exist. The abbey building housed the Czech National Gallery's collection of 19th-century Bohemian art for a long time. Currently, it is empty and is waiting for a renovation. The abbess of this nunnery had the unusual privilege of crowning the Queen consort of Bohemia, inherited in 1782 by the Princess-Abbess of the

Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies The Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies (), officially the Imperial and Royal Theresian Stift for Noble Ladies in the Castle of Prague, was a Catholic monastic chapter of secular canonesses in Hradčany that admitted women from impoverished no ...

References

Benedictine nunneries in the Czech Republic Prague Castle Buildings and structures in Prague 973 establishments 10th-century establishments in Bohemia 1782 disestablishments in the Habsburg monarchy 1782 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire {{CzechRepublic-stub