The monastery in Doksany is connected with the women's canon of the Premonstratensians. The wife of King Vladislav II was responsible for its establishment in 1144-45. Gertrude. The monastery was founded as a sister to the oldest male Premonstratensian canon in Bohemia - the Strahov Monastery in Prague. During its history, it became one of the most important monasteries in Bohemia. Its destinies were not dissimilar to the destinies of our other monasteries. Rise and golden years awaited him, followed by decline, wars, fires and abolition during the reforms of Joseph II. But let's start from the beginning.
The first nuns came from the Dünnwald monastery, which is located in the Rhineland. In the following years, daughters from prominent domestic families were raised here. Vladislav's daughter Anežka, later abbess at St. Jiří in Prague. Her mother and founder of the monastery, Gertrude, was later buried here. The original wooden buildings were gradually replaced by stone convent buildings, which did not survive. A basilica was also built soon, in which the prince and Prague bishop Jindřich Břetislav was buried. The monastery experienced its greatest prosperity in the 13th and 14th centuries. Although the congregation was then persecuted by a number of calamities, including fires, floods, the Hussite Wars and the Thirty Years' War, religious life continued without interruption. From the end of the 17th century, extensive reconstruction of the area took place, which today is one of the most remarkable Baroque complexes in Bohemia. The current appearance of the church also comes from these reconstructions, a dome was erected, new chapels were created, fresco and stucco decorations were carried out, and the cemetery church of St. Peter and Paul. During the reign of Joseph II. the monastery was abolished in 1782, and after a short episode when the building was used as a hospital and barracks, in 1790 it was rented by Princess Marie Terezia Poniatowska, née Kinská, and had it transformed into a castle. In 1998, the Premonstratensians returned to the monastery and it was restored again.