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Velehrad is situated at an altitude of 219 m in the valley of the Salaska river about 7 km northwest of the district town Uherské Hradiště. Benedictine monks lived here already in the 11th century. The Cistercian monastery was founded around 1205. During the Hussite Wars, the monks had to withdraw to Uherské Hradiště. The monastery was reopened in 1650, but was closed again in 1748. The former abbey church was taken over by the Jesuit order in 1891.

The former monastery church Assumption of Our Lady and Saints Cyril and Methodius [left] goes back to the first monastery church which had been consecrated in 1228. The former Romanesque church was rebuilt in magnificent Baroque style in 1681–1769. The church received the status of a Basilica minor in 1928.

According to the legend, Saint Methodius died at Velehrad in AD 885.

Pope John Paul II visited Velehrad on 22nd of April, 1990.