Bazilika sv. Prokopa

Landmark · Třebíč · Czechia

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One of Central Europe's finest Romanesque-Gothic churches: a vaulted crypt borrowed from southern France, a floor plan from southern Germany, and a portal echoing a Vienna cathedral doorway, built 1240-1280 for a Benedictine abbey and crowned with a UNESCO listing since 2003.

The basilica began as the church of a Benedictine monastery founded in 1101, rebuilt in its present Romanesque-Gothic form between roughly 1240 and 1280. It is counted among the first buildings in Central Europe to bring together Western European influences in one structure: the vaulted crypt borrows from architecture in southern France, the floor plan follows patterns from southern Germany, and the main portal echoes a doorway of a Vienna cathedral. Its fortunes turned in 1468, when Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus besieged Trebic and the building was badly damaged; for more than two centuries afterward it served secular purposes as a stable, a granary and a brewery rather than a place of worship. Restoration in the first half of the 18th century returned it to religious use and gave it its current dedication to St Procopius. Architect Kamil Hilbert oversaw the renovation that shaped its present appearance between 1924 and 1935. In 2003 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list together with Trebic's Jewish Quarter, marking the medieval coexistence of Christian and Jewish communities in the town.

What you see

The basilica crowns the hill above the town, its Romanesque apse studded with round windows and a rose window with original ten-part stone tracery, while a pair of Baroque black domed towers rises over the west front. Below, a crypt of about fifty short stone columns holds up a low vaulted ceiling.

Practical

Open to visitors April to October, weekdays 9:00-16:00 and weekends 13:00-16:00, with reduced hours the rest of the year; entry is by guided or self-guided tour, and church services take priority.

unescoromanesquegothicchurchcrypt

Basilica built in the 13th century — a listed part.

Food nearby

Common questions

Why stop at Bazilika sv. Prokopa on a bike ride?
One of Central Europe's finest Romanesque-Gothic churches: a vaulted crypt borrowed from southern France, a floor plan from southern Germany, and a portal echoing a Vienna cathedral doorway, built 1240-1280 for a Benedictine abbey and crowned with a UNESCO listing since 2003.
Where is Bazilika sv. Prokopa?
Bazilika sv. Prokopa is in Třebíč, Czechia (Czech Republic).