The fortified settlement of Budeč with its St. Peter and Paul Rotunda situated over the village of Zákolany is one of the symbols of the Czech statehood. Archaeologists proved the place was settled by Knovíz culture, which dates back to the late Bronze Time and the beginning of the late Iron Time (8th - 6th century BC). In the second half of the 9th century AD the prince Bořivoj I fortified the uphill flown by the Zákolanský and Týnecký Brook and Budeč was listed at the central castles of the Central Bohemian Přemyslids domain. The fortified settlement consists of a central part - an acropolis of an area of 3.3 hectares and at least two pre-castles, which make the area larger - up to 22 hectares.
Bořivoj´s successor, the prince Spytihněv I, when he became independent from Moravian Empire, built St.Peter Rotunda in 895 and it became the third church in an area of the Přemyslids. According to St. Wenceslas legends, a young priest Wenceslas had been learning to read, write and sing psalms in Budeč when later he became a saint and a patron of the Bohemian lands.
The original pre-Roman body of the rotunda with an average of 10 meters and a height of 12 meters was enlarged in the 12th century with a Roman tower and probably at that time St. Peter sanctification was extended by St. Paul. Around 1585 the body was accompanied by a rectangular chancel and in the 17th century by a sacristy. The main body of the Spytihněv´s building got over all these modifications in an undamaged state and is considered to be the oldest building in the Czech Republic at present.
What more is worth your attention is a renaissance stone pulpit from 1585 with Christ reliefs - Good Shepherd and St. Peter and Paul.
A stone altar and a plastic of Crucified Christ come from the 1990s.
In the second half of the 10th century there was built the second church sacred to Virgin Mary on the acropolis of the settlement. On the contrary, it has not been preserved till nowadays and is reminded only by the copy of the basis created according to archaeological research.
During pulling down of the church, the oldest preserved tombstone from 1625 was added into the wall of rotunda presbytery. A cemetery next to the rotunda became a place of the last rest of a significant pedagogue from the 19th century K. S. Amerling and historians V. Davídek and O. Urban.
In the vicinity to Budeč you can find some other monuments reminding St. Wenceslas. Under the fortified settlement towards Týnice there is St. Wenceslas well and in the forest over the village there is a stone called Bed of St. Wenceslas because it is said that there young Wenceslas used to have a rest after his studies with his priest.
You can visit the rotunda between the end of May and the end of September every Saturday and Sunday from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm.