Emmaus Monastery

Emmaus Monastery (Emauzský klášter), also known as Na Slovanech, is a historic Benedictine complex in Prague's New Town district (Prague 2), instantly recognizable from its two dramatically slanted concrete spires rising above the monastery church.

Who founded the monastery, and when?

The monastery was founded on 21 November 1347 by Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Charles IV. Rather than bringing in Latin-rite monks, Charles invited Benedictine monks from Croatia – from an abbey on the island of Pašman near Zadar – to settle in Prague. Their task was to celebrate the liturgy in the Slavic language, written in the Glagolitic script, which made Emmaus the only community of its kind within Western Latin Christianity at the time. This is the origin of the monastery's alternate name, "Na Slovanech" ("Among the Slavs").

Where exactly is the monastery located?

The complex sits in Prague's New Town, bounded by the streets Vyšehradská, Trojická, Pod Slovany and Na Slovanech, close to Vyšehrad.

What was monastic life like at Emmaus?

For centuries the monks of Emmaus focused on copying and translating liturgical texts in Glagolitic script, devised for Old Church Slavonic. The monastery served as a center of Slavic literary culture in medieval Bohemia. Over time the Slavic liturgy faded, and the community underwent the organizational changes typical of Central European abbeys through the early modern period.

Why do the towers look so modern?

The monastery's most striking feature today is the pair of asymmetrically splayed towers crowning the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The original neo-Gothic towers were badly damaged and eventually demolished after the bombing of Prague in February 1945. Reconstruction did not happen until 1968, when architect František Maria Černý – a student of the noted Czech architect Josef Gočár – won an architectural competition with a design for new, 32-metre-tall towers built as a thin reinforced-concrete shell roughly 40 centimeters thick. The result is a deliberately modernist counterpoint to the Gothic and Baroque structure of the church below.

Is Emmaus Monastery worth visiting in Prague?

Emmaus is one of the few places in Prague where a single building visibly combines a medieval imperial foundation with bold postwar modernist architecture. Its proximity to Vyšehrad makes it easy to combine both sites in a single walk through the New Town.

Frequently asked questions

Who founded Emmaus Monastery in Prague? Emperor Charles IV founded it on 21 November 1347, bringing Benedictine monks from Croatia to Prague.

Why is it called "Na Slovanech"? The name refers to the Slavic-language liturgy, written in Glagolitic script, that the monks performed there – unique within Western Christianity at the time.

Why do the church towers look different from the rest of the building? The original neo-Gothic towers were destroyed during the 1945 bombing of Prague. The current reinforced-concrete towers, designed by František Maria Černý, were built in 1968 in a modernist style.

Where is the monastery located? In Prague's New Town (Prague 2), between the streets Vyšehradská, Trojická, Pod Slovany and Na Slovanech, near Vyšehrad.