Ancient legends situate the original seat of the Czech princes
- the legendary Princess Libuse and the first Premyslids - on this
hill. In fact, this fort had not been founded until the
Prague Castle was already in existence (10th century).
Vratislav II (1061-1092, king since 1085) chose Vysehrad as
his royal residence. He founded a new minster, the Basilica of St
Lawrence, rotunda of St Martin and the Vysehrad Chapter. The Chapter
was excluded from the authority of the Bishop of Prague, and was
a subject directly to the Pope. It benefited from a great attention
paid to it by many Bohemian sovereigns, and obtained a range of
political and economic privileges. Sobeslav I (1125-1140) also took
an interest in the social prestige of Vysehrad, but his successor
returned his residence back into the Prague Castle.
Vysehrad regained its importance under Charles IV, who converted
Vysehrad into a stone fortress, joining it to the ramparts of the
New Town of Prague, built a Gothic Royal Palace and the Capitular
church. However, the whole royal precinct
was destroyed during the Hussite Wars. From the mid-17th century onwards Vysehrad became
a fortress with its own military garrison, and remained
under military jurisdiction until 1911.
The present appearance of Vysehrad was largely determined in the
second half of the 19th century, when the Church of St Peter and
Paul was rebuilt in the neogothic style. In its neighbourhood is
situated the cemetery where the Czech outstanding personalities
have been buried since 1869.
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