If anyone connects Poland and the Czech Republic, it is the national patron of both countries, the Bishop of Prague, St. Vojtěch. He is a symbol of the struggle between Christianity and paganism and shared the dream of a Christian Europe with his friend, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, Otto III. Prague Cathedral has borne his name since 1060. In 993 he founded the Břevnov Monastery, which includes the oldest brewery in Bohemia. The local beer is worth tasting and once a year it is even brewed according to an old medieval recipe. In Bohemia, St. Vojtěch was not able to spread Christianity as he would have liked, so he went to Poland and the then Hungary, where he baptized the later first king of Hungary, St. Stephen. He then went to the Polish prince Boleslaus the Brave in order to undertake a missionary journey. This led along the banks of the Vistula and the Gulf of Danzig. Despite warnings that the pagan Prussians did not wish him to evangelize, he continued. He was captured and murdered on April 23, 997. Vojtěch’s remains were so essential to Boleslaus the Brave that he had them weighed in gold and deposited in the cathedral in the seat city of Hnezdno. Half a century later, the Bohemian prince took them home to his homeland. However, Vojtěch’s story is far from over with his martyrdom. After his death, Emperor Otto III made a symbolic tour of Europe and asked Pope Sylvester II to declare him a saint. Thus, the first Polish archbishopric was established over his grave in Hnezdno, Poland, in the presence of the emperor and the pope, and the Polish prince Boleslaus the Brave was awarded the royal crown for Poland. Following the example of these powerful men, you can pay homage to St. Vojtěch in the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Vojtěch at Prague Castle, where his authentic relics are preserved. Saint Vojtěch is called the first European for his vision of Europe as an international community built on Christian foundations. Vojtěch’s vision of friendship between the states of Central Europe inspired Václav Havel to found the Visegrad Four. In Poland, fragments of Vojtěch’s life can be commemorated in 18 stunning bronze reliefs on the doors of the cathedral in Hnezdno.