Premonstratensian monastery in Milevsko

The monastery in Milevsko belongs to the most valuable sights of the Czech Romanesque architecture. The rich magnate George of Milevsko originated the first monastery in the south Bohemia in 1187. The friars came from the Premonstratensian monastery in Želiv to Milevsko. In the following period the monastery belonged to the richest ones in Bohemia and was the centre of the economic  and cultural life on a large territory. In 1420 the Hussites set it on fire, the nobility took over its property and the monastery became an aristocratic residence. After the battle on the White Mountain in 1620 the monastery was given back to the Premonstratensian order, but it did not ever gained its significance back. Emperor Joseph II abolished it in 1785 and the monastery became a utility building. After the revolution in 1989 the Premonstratensians came back to the monastery. Its reconstruction took thirteen years. Among the oldest sights of the monastery there are the formerly Romanesque Basilica of the Visitation of Our Lady, later partly rebuilt in the Baroque style, and the Church of St. Giles.