Basilicas in Czechia

Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, Pribram, Stredocesky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius X in 1905—the first in Czechia.

The Baroque Basilica sits atop Holy Mountain above Pribram.  A chapel was built here in the 15^th Century, but after a wooded statue of Our Lady was brought here in the early 17^th Century, it became a pilgrimage site.  The Jesuits were given charge of the church in 1647 and they built the current Basilica.  Since 1861, the Basilica has been served by the Redemptorists.  A 365-step stairway leads from the town to the Basilica.

The top picture is from a local source and the bottom picture is from TripAdvisor.

Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows, Krupka, Ustecky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1924.

A church has been on this site since 1426 and the current Basilica was built between 1701 and 1722.  It is made of stone and built in a Baroque style.  The centerpiece of the Basilica is a small clay statue of Our Lady of Sorrows holding the dead Christ.  Legend has it that the statue was in a monastery that was attacked by religious dissidents in the early 15^th Century who burned the monastery and killed many of the nuns.  Some of the nuns escaped with the statue which they hid in a tree.  A few years later, a young girl found the statue and pilgrims have come to pray to Our Lady ever since.  The statue has survived the Reformation and several wars.  The Basilica has seven chapels dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica Our Lady Help of Christians, Jirikov, Ustecky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

The Basilica commemorates a miracle in 1866.  The Virgin Mary appeared to a terminally ill 31-year-old Magdalena Kade and told her she was cured, and she was.  The Neo-Romanesque Basilica was built between 1873 and 1886 as part of a Redemptorist college and is a major pilgrimage destination in Bohemia.  It is literally built on the German border.  The Basilica has a 3-foot-high Carrera marble statue of the Virgin Mary.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

All Saints Basilica, Ceska Lipa, Liberecky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1927.

The Basilica was originally built as the church for an Augustinian monastery in the 17^th Century.  A fire destroyed the original church and the current Baroque church was built between 1700 and 1707.  There was originally an onion-shaped dome, but it burned in 1820.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius, Velehrad, Zlinsky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1928.

Originally part of a 13^th Century monastery, the Romanesque and Gothic church was renovated in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries with a Baroque style.  The Basilica has 14 Baroque chapels.

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Margaret of Antioch, Prague

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XII in 1948.

The first church on this site was an 11^th Century Romanesque building dedicated to St. Adalbert and St. Benedict.  It was a Benedictine monastery church and was rebuilt in a Gothic style in the 15^th Century and dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch.  The current Baroque church was built in the early 18^th Century.

The top picture is from Flickr and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. James the Greater, Prague

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1974.

A Gothic monastery church was built on this site in the 13^th Century, although a church may have been on the site even earlier.  The stone church suffered at least two major fires as a result of wars and was restored in the 17^th Century in a Baroque style (except for the eastern clock tower which retains the Gothic style).  The Basilica has 22 altars and a pipe organ with 8,277 pipes.  Written inside the Basilica is a warning from butchers that anyone who threatens the church will be cut to pieces—twice the butcher’s guild saved the church from damage.  One the parish buildings housed the first kindergarten in Czechia in 1869.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Hostyn, Zlinsky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

The Basilica is a major Marian pilgrimage site in Moravia.  The Baroque church was completed in 1747 and sits atop St. Hostyn hill.  The church fell into disuse and was deconsecrated in 1784 before being restored and consecrated again in the mid-19^th Century.  The western façade has a 280 square foot mosaic of the Madonna completed in 1912.

The top picture is from a local source and the bottom picture is from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Brno, Jihomoravsky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

The basilica was built in the 14^th Century by Queen Eliska Rejcka in a Gothic style.  The church was constructed mostly with bricks and served as the church for a monastery—originally for Cistercians, but later for Augustinians.  The interior was restored in a Baroque style in the 18^th Century.  The Basilica has a painting of the Black Madonna brought to Brno in 1356 by King Charles IV of Bohemia.  The Black Madonna is the patron of Brno.  Gregor Mendel, scientist and an Augustinian monk, lived and worked near the Basilica in the 19^th Century.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Prague

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

The Basilica was originally built in the 12^th Century for a monastery for the Premonstratensian order.  It was rebuilt between 1258 and 1263 in a Gothic style and between 1601 and 1605 in a Renaissance style.  After suffering war damage, the church acquired its current Baroque look between 1742 and 1758.  St. Norbert, the founder of the Premonstratensian order is buried in the Basilica.  It is said the Mozart played the church’s pipe organ in 1787, but the pipe organ was later replaced.

The first picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Svaty Kopecek, Olomoucky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

A chapel was constructed on this site in the early 17^th Century.  It contained a stone relief of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus, and it quickly became a pilgrimage destination.  This chapel was destroyed by the Swedish army in 1645 and the current church was built in the late 17^th and early 18^th Centuries in a Baroque style.  The church fell into disrepair in the 19^th Century due to a lack of funds and was damaged in the Second World War.  It further deteriorated during Communist rule.  Restoration took place between 1996 and 2020.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Lawrence and St. Zdislava, Jablonne v Podjestedi, Liberecky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

The stone Baroque Basilica was built for the Dominicans between 1690 and 1711.  St. Zdislava was a 13^th Century Czech woman who helped the poor and needy.  She is the patron saint of difficult marriages, and she is buried in the Basilica.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Frydek-Mistek, Moravskoslezsky

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

The Baroque Basilica was built between 1740 and 1777 to honor a stone statue of the Virgin Mary dating possibly to the 17^th Century.  The church is a regional pilgrimage destination.  The Basilica has eight chapels and an outdoor Stations of the Cross.

From Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Peter and Paul, Prague

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

The Basilica dates to the 11^th Century but has been rebuilt and restored in different architectural styles through the ages.  The current Neo-Gothic design was completed in the 1880s.  It has two 190-foot steeples.  The interior is decorated with frescoes and wall paintings.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas, Zdar nad Sazavou, Vysocina

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

The Basilica was built as a monastery church in the 13^th Century and combines Gothic and Baroque styles.

The first picture is from Flickr, the second from a tourist website, and the last two are from Wikipedia.

Basilicas in Selected European Countries

I blogged about the following basilica on March 17, 2019.

•  Cathedral Basilica of St. Chad, Birmingham, England.

I blogged about the following basilica on April 10, 2021.

•  Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King, Reykjavik, Iceland.

 

Basilica of Our Lady of Meritxell, Meritxell, Canillo, Andorra

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Francis in 2014.

The Modern Basilica was built in the 1970s to replace a 16^th Century Romanesque church that was destroyed by fire in 1972.  The old church had a 12^th Century statue of Our Blessed Mother that was also destroyed in the fire.  The new church has a replica of the statue as well as seven wooden statues of martyrs, each representing a region of Andorra.

Pictures are from Flickr, a local source, and Wikipedia (last two).

Former Basilica of Corpus Christi, Manchester, Manchester, England

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius X in 1904—the first in England.

The Basilica was built between 1906 and 1907 by the Norbertine Order.  It was constructed with sandstone and bricks in an Italian Romanesque style.  Maintenance costs forced the Norbertines to close the church in 2007 and it is now used for secular purposes.

From Wikipedia.

Downside Abbey and Basilica of St. Gregory the Great, Stratton on the Fosse, Somerset, England

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1935.

Benedictine monks came to England from Flanders in 1795 and established a monastery in Downside in 1814.  Construction of the Gothic Revival abbey/basilica church was begun in 1873 and continues today.  The church was consecrated in 1935.  The future of the monastery is in doubt.  Due to lawsuits involving sexual abuse at Downside School, the monastery has had to sell some of its assets, including Renaissance-era paintings.  Also, the monastery only has 15 monks and is considering a move to a different monastery.

The first picture is from the Abbey website and the others are from Wikipedia.

National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, Little Walsingham, Norfolk, England

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Francis in 2015.

Walsingham became a major pilgrimage destination after an apparition of Our Lady in 1061.  The shrine was destroyed in 1538 during the reign of Henry VIII and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was burnt.  An Anglican shrine was built in Walsingham in 1931.  The Catholic Shrine and Basilica was once known as the Slipper Chapel.  It was built in 1340 as the last pilgrimage stop on the way to Walsingham.  The chapel fell into disuse after Henry VIII destroyed the church at Walsingham.  A wealthy convert to Catholicism bought the chapel and restored it in 1897.  Catholic pilgrims often walk barefoot from the Basilica to the original shrine—a distance of one mile.

 All pictures are from Wikipedia.

Basilica of St. Patrick, Lough Derg, Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1931.

St. Patrick’s Purgatory has been a pilgrimage site since the 5^th Century due to the belief that St. Patrick, discouraged by people wanting proof of Christianity, was shown by Christ a cave that was the entrance to Purgatory.  Over the centuries, pilgrims came from all over Europe.  The site is on an island in a lake.  The current Romanesque Basilica was built between 1925 and 1930 using concrete and stone.  The Basilica has a copper clad dome and 169 windows.

The first picture is from a local source and the others are from Wikipedia.

Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland, Knock, County Mayo, Ireland

Declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1979.

 The Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, as well as Jesus, the Lamb of God accompanied by angels, appeared to several people at the local church in 1879.  Since then, the site has become a major pilgrimage site, attracting Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  Although the original parish church still stands, the Basilica was completed in 1976.  The modern concrete structure can hold 10,000 people.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

 

Basilica of St. Willibrord, Echternach, Grevenmacher, Luxembourg

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1939.

St. Willibrord built the first church on this site in 698.  Pilgrims to his tomb resulted in the building of a larger church which was destroyed by fire in 1016.  The current Basilica was completed in 1031 using Romanesque and Gothic styles.  French revolutionaries severely damaged the church in the late 1700s and it was not restored until the 1860s.  The church was again severely damaged by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.  It was restored in 1953.  St. Willibrord is buried in a white marble sarcophagus.  Stained glass windows depict the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of Mary.

 

Both pictures are from local sources.

Basilica and Co-Cathedral of San Marino, San Marino, San Marino

Declared a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

The Basilica is the Co-Cathedral of the Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro (Italy) and is dedicated to St. Marinus, the founder and patron of the Republic of San Marino. (San Marino has been an independent republic within Italy since 301.  It has a population of about 35,000.)  A church was built on this location in the 4^th Century and the present Neo-Classical Basilica was built in between 1826 and 1838.  St. Marinus is buried in the Basilica.

Pictures are from Dreamstime and Wikipedia.