Stará Boleslav - Provostry

Stará Boleslav is a former independent town and a historically significant place. It is located in the Prague-East district and since 1960 it has been one of the parts of the Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav district.

Probably at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, a Přemyslid fortress was founded here at the ford over the Elbe River, on the route of the old provincial trail (later called the Zittau Trail). Boleslav I had a castle built on its site and here, at the entrance to the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian (according to archaeological excavations, it stood on the site of today's Romanesque crypt in the Church of St. Wenceslas), he also had his brother, Prince Wenceslas, murdered on 28 September 935 (in church tradition it is said to be 929).

From its foundation, the castle was an administrative centre, first as a princely, then as a regional one. In 1052, Prince Břetislav I founded the Romanesque Basilica of St. Wenceslas and the collegiate chapter of St. Cosmas and Damian, the oldest institution of its kind in the Czech Republic (later the chapter protected the Marian image of grace, the so-called Palladium of the Czech Lands).

North of the castle, a forecourt with a square was gradually created. In 1262, Stará Boleslav was transferred from royal to noble property, but extensive hunting grounds in the surrounding forests forced the rulers to reclaim Boleslav. Charles IV had new fortifications built, but during the Hussite wars Boleslav Castle and its chapter were destroyed.

Until the middle of the 16th century Boleslav was in the possession of the Krajířs of Krajk (supporters of the Unity of the Brethren), but because of their participation in the anti-Habsburg rebellion in 1547 the Krajířs' property was confiscated and Boleslav became the property of the royal chamber as part of the Brandýs estate.

During the Thirty Years' War, Boleslav was almost completely devastated, after the war it became an anti-Reformation centre thanks to the Jesuit Order.

The Jesuits established their residence here in 1656 near the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the foundations of which were built in 1670-1671 according to the plans of the Italian architect and Baroque builder Giovanni Domenico Orsi. The building was simplified according to the original plans. The still unfinished building was damaged by fire twice between 1679 and 1680, then construction continued between 1686 and 1687. Further alterations to the building date from the 18th century.

In 1728-1734 the building of the provost's office of the Collegiate Chapter of St. Cosmas and Damian in Stará Boleslav was built according to the design of Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer. It is part of the rectory complex situated south of St. Mary's Church. The rectory building is surrounded by an ornamental garden with a statue of St. Wenceslas and a fountain.The Jesuits from Boleslav created the most important Czech pilgrimage site.

The development of Boleslav was due to the Theresian reforms under the so-called Raabization. In 1898, Emperor Franz Joseph I made Stara Boleslav a town.

The Baroque complex of the provostry is situated nearby, south of the Church of Our Lady. The core of the complex is the rectory building no. 61. The main building is surrounded by an ornamental garden with a statue of St. Wenceslas and a stone fountain. To the east behind the rectory building is a massive building with a rectangular plan, built of white masonry with hipped roofs. Sections of the original enclosure wall survive on the south-west and north-east sides.

After the Second World War the premises of the rectory served as a retirement home. After the fall of communism, the house was returned to the church and reconstructed. On 26 September 1994 the house was consecrated by Father Cardinal Miloslav Vlk and since then it has been used as a charity home. In 2020 it was taken over by the Archdiocesan Charity of Prague, and today it houses the St. Wenceslas Charity Home.