Stará Boleslav - Chapel of Blessed Podiven

The Baroque chapel of Blessed Podiven was built in 1738 according to the design of Kilian Ignác Dientzenhofer thanks to the dean of the Old Boleslav chapter, Jan Křtitel Frick.

At the end of the 18th century, the chapel was closed down and sold to the Brandýs estate, which then lent it to the military. The latter used the chapel as a powder magazine until 1875. The then inhabitants of Stará Boleslav, fearing a fire, demanded that the gunpowder be removed from the former chapel. Their request was granted and the chapel was donated back to the Stara Boleslav chapter. The latter had it rebuilt and rededicated in 1878.

From rumours

According to legend, the chapel stands on the place where the blessed Podiven, the servant of St. Wenceslas, died. He was killed by the same murderers who murdered St. Wenceslas.

After the death of his ruler, Podiven went to the empire for a time, but he could not forgive Wenceslas' murderers. He therefore returned after a time and visited the house of one of the leaders of the conspiracy against Prince Wenceslas. He stabbed him, but news of Podiven's revenge reached Prince Boleslav. Podiven was then discovered, captured and hanged in the woods near Stara Boleslav, where he was hiding.

His corpse is said to have hung undisturbed in a tree for several years without being touched by any animal. Soon the first miracles began to happen, and it was decided to put Podiven's body in the ground. Due to the phenomena associated with his dead body, he was declared blessed. Later, Podiven's body was taken to Prague and buried near the tomb of St. Wenceslas at St. Vitus Cathedral.

It is a central Baroque building on a circular plan with three radial, almost rectangular chapel niches. The central cylinder is roofed with a bay topped by an offset gabled roof.

The central space is flat-roofed with an illusory architectural fresco of the dome from 1741 by Jan Václav Spitzer, the side chapels bridged by mounded bands with frescoes by Jan Peter Molitor. The altar with the image of St. Benedict is early Baroque from the second half of the 17th century Three paintings by Jan Václav Spitzer from the 1840s depicting St. Wenceslas with Blessed Podiven, the Passion of Blessed Podiven and the same saint hiding the Palladium were hung in the chapel.

In the second half of the 20th century the chapel served temporarily as a funeral parlour. Nowadays, it is the property of the parish of Staroboleslav and services are not held there. Restoration of the fresco decoration of the chapel began in 2010.