The oldest ever written hint of Roudnice nad Labem dates back to the mid-l2th century. Having been granted the freedoms of a medieval town some time in the l3th century, Roudnice experienced an occupation by the Brandenburgs before the century's end. Times of flourishing prosperity came in under Bishop Jan IV of Dražice (1301-1341), leaving back the Augustinian Convent and a stone bridge across the Elbe (both dating back to 1333.) Archbishop Jan Očko of Vlašim founded the New Town of Roudnice in 1378. Roudnice changed secular owners many times between the end of the Hussite Wars and the beginning of the l7th century, with the Rožmberks (at the end of the l6th century) being the most outstanding of all. The 1603 take-over by the Lobkowiczs opened the modern era. In 1850 the patrimony of Roudnice came to an end, being replaced with the District of Roudnice which had existed down to 1960. The last hundred years were a time of steady evolution into a modern town.

The Romanesque St George's Rotunda atop the Říp hill

Aerial view of the town centre

The Belfry. While the old, wooden belfry burnt down along with the church in 1676, the new one was made of stone in its place in 1715. It received the three original bells cast in 1536, 1541 and 1619 by the bell founder family Frič of Roudnice. During World War I, the bells were saved thanks to the Viennese art historian, Dr Max Dvořák, native of Roudnice.

Watch tower, a remainder of the medieval fortifications between the Old Town and the New Town of Roudnice. The monument went through many reconstructions, but always served for defence, for giving the time signal and fire alarms.

The château. This is the place on which the old, l2th-century Romanesque Bishop's Castle, later converted into a Gothic castle, once was. Another redevelopment took place under Vilém of Rožmberk in the late l6th century. But more changes were yet to come during the Lobkowicz era. A thorough reconstruction was inspired by Václav Eusebius of Lobkowicz and a part of it was made by Francesco Caratti. The château was North Bohemia's first baroque project. The art-loving Lobkowiczs concentrated treasures of world painting here. Many pieces are now found in the National Gallery of Prague, like Rubens's Cleopatra, or the Hay Harvest by Pieter Brueghel sr., etc. Works by outstanding Spanish artists are now in the Central Bohemian Gallery at Nelahozeves. The vast original library is now in the Czech State Library Prague.

The Provost Cathedral of the Virgin Mary's Birth. The cathedral was erected in place of the older Romanesque church of unknown dedication in 1333-1360. There was an Augustinian Monastery next to it into which only Czech applicants were admitted. This centre of science and culture reached across all of Central Europe. The buildings suffered damage during the Hussite Wars in 1421. Repaired in the l6th century, the church went through a baroque remodelling in 1725-1734. The church now harbours the so called Paintings of Roudnice, a series on the Sufferings and Resurrection of the Lord from 1622. The monastery ruin consists of the surviving eastern, southern and western ambit wings.