Castle Zbraslav

In the vicinity of the city of Prague, a village called Zbraslav was founded and became royal property. From 1292 onwards, the royal estate was administered by Cistercian monks, to whom King Wenceslas II donated the estate and decreed the royal burial place to be at Zbraslav. On July 3, 1297, the foundations of a new monastery and cathedral were laid. After the violent death of Wenceslas III, its rare jewels were stolen and under the reign of Hendry of Carinthia, the estate was partly plundered. At that time the monastery was headed by the first Abbot of Zbraslav Konrád. Petr Žitavský, author of an outstanding chronicle, was elected his successor 1316-1339. The monastery was favored particularly by the House of Premyslids and later by the House of Luxemburg. Queen Eliška had the Marian cathedral, unfinished for 22 years, completed and was buried there in 1330. Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who was later to become Pope Pius II, mentions in his Czech chronicle the completion of the expensive monastery water pipelines.