Rotunda of St. George - Říp

On top of the Říp Mountain there is a Romanesque rotunda of Saint George, which is one of the oldest buildings in the Czech Republic. The legend, first recorded at the beginning of the 12th century by the chronicler Kosmas, considers Říp and its surroundings to be the place where the first Slavs led by the forefather Čech (Czech) settled on arrival in their new homeland and where a ritual "takeover" of the surrounding country took place, culminating with naming the country after the leader (Boemus in Latin). It is said that every patriotic Czech should climb this mountain at least once in his/her lifetime.



For the first time in the written sources, the local rotunda is commemorated in 1126, when Prince Soběslav I had the existing church repaired and extended by the Western Round Tower in memory of the victory in the Battle of Chlumec. This fact implies that the building was founded earlier, perhaps around 1039, when the remains of St. Adalbert, to whom the chapel at Říp was consecrated, were transferred to Prague. It was only from the 16th century that the consecration of St. George, the patron of the Přemyslids, is known. The church became a popular pilgrimage site in the 17th and 18th centuries.



The current appearance of the rotunda is the result of a purist reconstruction that took place between 1869 and 1881. The southern portal was newly created (the rotunda was previously entered through the entrance on the west side, which is walled in today), large windows in the nave were installed and the building provided with smooth exterior plaster. This was half-battered during the first Czechoslovak Republic.



In the 1960s, further construction work was carried out, based on the requirement to make the facade more Romanesque. The plaster was completely redesigned from the ground floor, which also destroyed the oldest preserved Romanesque masonry on the second floor of the tower. The rotunda thus acquired a “Romanesque” appearance with an unplastered facade. The southern portal set up during the previous rebuilding was demolished and replaced with a new one in the neo-Romanesque style, the nave windows were made smaller and fitted with a replica of Romanesque jamb. Although it was repeatedly stated in the course of the works that the historical marble pavement is in order, that it is only necessary to replace several cracked tiles, the floor was completely replaced by sandstone pavement in the end.



Due to the deteriorating condition of the historic marl masonry on the ground floor of the facade, which was negatively influenced by exposure of the unplastered masonry, the facade was plastered again around 2009. However, due to the improper technology used, the plaster is rapidly deteriorating.

## Keywords
romanesque gothic architecture history rotunda říp