While we were in Prague, we visited two churches: St. George's Basilica and St. Vitus Cathedral. Both churches are situated within Prague Castle and St. George's is the earlier of the two churches. It was founded in 920 during the Romanesque period, which was an architectural style that was popular in the early Middle Ages, roughly the 6th century to the 10th century. 

Unfortunately, I was too close to to take a picture of the whole building, but I did my best to take a complete picture of the Romanesque portion of the building. 

The basilica houses the remains of the Přemyslid dynasty as well as shrines to Czech saints. One of those saints is Ludmila, whose remains are housed in a Gothic addition. Ludmila was an early duchess of Bohemia who, in the late 800's, was converted to Christianity. Once converted, Ludmila attempted to convert her subjects, a task in which she failed. 

However, she was highly influential upon her grandson Wenceslaus, who is mainly remembered in the Western world from the song "Good King Wenceslaus". Under the guidance of Ludmila, he became pious and helped further Christianity among the Czechs. As commonly occurs, her influence was resented, particularly by her daughter-in-law Drahomíra. To rid herself of Ludmila, Drahomíra contrived to have her mother-in-law murdered, which occurred in 921. After her murder, Ludmila was declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

I am not sure if I took a picture of her shrine, sadly enough, but some sites seem to indicate that the above area is where her shrine is located. I don't know if that is true, but this was one of my favorite pictures from the basilica so I figured I would share it. 

As you may have noticed, I did not know much about the history of the basilica before I went, so I didn't know what to look for while inside. The only thing I really knew during my tour was that the basilica once housed a convent. This convent was comprised of aristocratic women and their abbess was influential enough to crown medieval queen consorts. Other than that, I knew nothing of the basilica other than what I could infer, like that important people were buried there.

One thing I did notice, however, was the different architectural styles within the basilica. Thankfully, art history can generally be applied to buildings throughout Europe and it helped me identify some of the additional structures to the building. Within the basilica, there were quite a few structures that dated from the Baroque period, notably the staircase next to the alter and a chapel dedicated to another Czech saint.

Given the basilicas proximity to the political heart of Bohemia, these additions are not surprising. The additions, especially the shrines and chapels to saints, continued to honor Bohemia's past, which was to be expected in a church that sat within palace grounds. Furthermore, later generations seem to have added elements that they believed were needed. Of course, these are just my theories; there is really not much information about the basilica, let alone about why additional features were included to the original structure. 

Whatever the reasons were, the most interesting add-on is the basilicas facade:

As you see, this facade is not Romanesque. Instead, it dates from the Baroque period. While it is a beautiful facade, it is quite a contrast from the original Romanesque structure! 

The basilica is a fascinating structure and it was a pleasure to tour it. Personally, I need to re-tour it since I now know some of its history and I would highly recommend seeing it if you go to Prague. Of course, it has many aspects that I love rolled into one, so my recommendation is biased. But if you find yourself going to Prague, at least look into it as it is incredible to see in person!