Leopold Gate & the Rotunda of St Martin
Why is it significant?
Walk through the Leopold Gate, with its rusticated stone and carved decoration, and stop just beyond it. On your left stands a tiny round church of rough stone, with a conical roof, a small apse and a little lantern on top. It looks almost like a toy.
Key Facts
| Place | Leopold Gate & the Rotunda of St Martin |
|---|---|
| Address | V Pevnosti, 128 00 Praha 2, Czechia |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.06360, 14.42160 |
| Part of Walk | Vyšehrad: Princess Libuše, Cubist Houses and the Nation's Cemetery in Prague |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk through the Leopold Gate, with its rusticated stone and carved decoration, and stop just beyond it. On your left stands a tiny round church of rough stone, with a conical roof, a small apse and a little lantern on top. It looks almost like a toy. It is the oldest building still standing in Prague.
The Rotunda of Saint Martin was built in the second half of the eleventh century, at a time when Prague Castle was mostly wood and earth. This was the age of Vratislav II, who in 1085 became the first Czech ruler to hold the title of king, and who moved his court from Prague Castle here to Vyšehrad. For a few decades, this hill was the seat of power in Bohemia, with a royal palace, a chapter of canons and a great basilica.
The rotunda survived almost everything that came after. When the Hussites devastated Vyšehrad, it came through, perhaps because it was simply too small to bother with. Under the Habsburg garrison it became a gunpowder store and then a storehouse, which saved it from being demolished. In the 1870s it was restored and returned to church use, and services are held in it again.
The Leopold Gate you just walked through is a very different creature: built in the 1670s, named after Emperor Leopold I, and designed to impress rather than to defend. Between the two of them, the round chapel and the swaggering gate, lie six hundred years of Central European history.
Romanesque rotundas like this one are a Czech speciality. Scattered across Bohemia and Moravia, they are the oldest stone churches in the country. This one is the elder of the Prague family. Now walk on into the heart of the fortress, and bear right towards the northern ramparts and the Brick Gate, where a door leads into the hill itself.