Seminar on the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia in 1989 (12 November 2024)

On 12 November 2024, a seminar dedicated to the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia in Rome in 1989 will take place at the Charles Bridge Museum from 6 pm. This important historical event heralded the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Thousands of pilgrims came to the Vatican to celebrate the long-awaited canonization of the youngest daughter of King Přemysl Otakar I of Bohemia and Queen Constance of Hungary. The Czech princess chose the spiritual path over the secular life and became a nun. She worked as an abbess of the Na Františku monastery. She founded the male order of the Crusaders with the Red Star, which was based at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. A hospital was built on this site, which is now the site of the Charles Bridge Museum. Although the canonization of Agnes of Bohemia (1211-1282) was sought since the 14th century, she was beatified only in 1874 and canonized only by Pope John Paul II on 12 November 1989.

The seminar is jointly organised by Charles Bridge Museum and the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century. Art historian Jan Royt will give a lecture on the development of the iconography of St Agnes of Bohemia. Afterwards, excerpts from the period film Seven Stops on the Pilgrimage to St. Agnes, which was prepared in 1989 by cinematographer Jan Záboj, screenwriter Milan Uhde and producer Jan Kratochvil, will be screened. At the end, historians will discuss the canonisation of Agnes of Bohemia. Petr Blažek and Jaroslav Šebek. The evening will be moderated by Vojtěch Pokorný.