Rotunda sv. Petra a Pavla na Budči

The rotunda crowns the hilltop of Budeč, a fortified Přemyslid stronghold above Zákolany, and its round stone nave has stood since Prince Spytihněv built it between 895 and 905, making it the oldest standing building in the Czech Republic. A square Romanesque tower was added to its northwest side in the second half of the 12th century. Local tradition, recorded in Václav Hájek's chronicle, holds that the young Prince Wenceslas attended a school here around 914, learning to read and write Latin and serving daily at Mass with wine and candles before he became the patron saint of the Czech lands. A boulder on the nearby slope, known as Saint Wenceslas's bed, is said to mark where he rested on his walk to school. The site itself reaches back further still: Budeč was fortified as early as the Bronze Age and became one of the Přemyslid dynasty's earliest princely seats under Prince Bořivoj, the base from which the tribes of Bohemia were first drawn together into a single realm.