The monumental early Gothic royal castle was built in the second half of the 13th century by Przemysl Otakar II. In 1279 Otto of Brandenburg imprisoned the Prince Wenceslas II and his mother the Queen Kunhuta here. After the Battle on the White Mountain in 1620 Albrecht of Waldstein took over the castle and rebuilt it into a monastery. In 1666 the Benedictines brought here the copy of the Black...
The pilgrimage complex in Bohosudov was originated at the place, where the figure of Our Lady of Unceasing Succour was found. A stone chapel replaced the original wooden one in 1443 and in 1507-1515 a large cathedral nave was attached to it. A wall surrounded the space around the chapel and seven chapels were built at it as a reminiscence of seven succours of the Virgin Mary. The architect Octavio...
The Church of St.Peter and Paul from the 13th century is the dominant of Brno. It is situated on the hill Petrov at the place of the original Brno Castle from the 11th and 12th centuries. The church went through several changes in the 15th and the 16th centuries and in the years 1743-1746 it was rebuilt in the style of High Baroque according to the project by M.Grimm. Since 1777 the cathedral is the...
King Przemysl Otakar II donated the Broumov bulge to the Brevnov Benedictines in 1213. After the year 1322 Benedictine provostship was originated in Broumov and at the place of the Gothic castle began the construction of the Benedictine monastery. The original monastery church was built in the Gothic style and was devoted to St.Adalbert. In the cause of Hussite wars the monastery was besieged...
The construction of the Church of St.Vitus began in 1340 under the guidance of the German master-builder Linhart of Aldenberk and was completed only after the Hussite wars. In 1439 Bishop Nicholas of Passau consecrated it. The Church of St.Vitus has three naves with a long five-side presbytery, oblong two-storey sacristies on both sides, with the Chapel of Resurrection and of St.Jan Nepomucky and a...
Near the river Ohře and the Terezín Town on the busy road from Prague to Dresden, is situated one of the most valuable monasteries in the Czech Republic. Princess Gertruda, the wife of Czech King Vladislav II, originated the convent in the mid-12th century and presented it to the Order of Premonstratensian nuns. During the Hussite wars the nunnery was devastated several times and in the late 17th...
The Cathedral of the Visitation of Our Lady comes from the second half of the 18th century. The most valuable is its main altar from the year 1793, the work by the master-builder Jan Schubert of Opava and the famous Brno sculptor Andrew Schweigl. The cathedral with a set of front towers surrounds the chapel of the Way of the Cross from the 19th century. The pilgrims come to the Mary of Frýdek, who...
The wooden Church of Corpus Christi belongs to the oldest religious folk buildings in the foothills of Beskydy. It was built in 1563 in the period of Reformation and the divine services of the Protestants took place here until the year 1654, when the Catholics took it over. Its construction consists of extremely strong joists, sometimes even sixty centimetres wide. In the interior there is a unique...
“Czech Mariazell” - it is the name of the pilgrimage place in the valley of Jizerské hory at the border of three countries – the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. A legend about a poor workman describes the raise of this place. One day the workman left his sick wife and his little daughter at home and went to the forest to get some wood for his work. On the way back he had a rest under...
The Šach Synagogue in Holešov belongs to the world unique. It is the only preserved synagogue of the so-called Polish type, which is characteristic with floral decoration, fruit or animal motives. In Holešov the Jewish community existed since the 15th century and gradually grew, so that in the 19th century the Jewish population created one third of the inhabitants. The Šach Synagogue is dated back...
Svatý Hostýn is the most frequently visited pilgrimage place of Moravia. Franciscus Antonius of Rottal built the pilgrimage cathedral in 1721-1748 in the Baroque style. After its consecrating the cathedral was abolished by Joseph II and desecrated. The activity of the place was revived in the years 1841-1845. The coronation of Our Lady of Svatý Hostýn in 1912 was the event of great importance. On...
The Kladruby monastery is one of the oldest Czech monasteries. Prince Vladislav originated it in 1114 on the place worshiped as the centre of faith, culture and economy of the western Bohemian borderland. The Romanesque three-nave basilica was completed in the year 1233 and at that time it was the biggest in Bohemia. Even today it belongs to the three largest Czech cathedrals. In course of time the...
The pilgrimage place in Klokoty grew up in the early 18th century at the place of a rectory church and a fort that did not survive. In the centre of the complex there is the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady – an interesting one-nave building with attached ambits and four side chapels. The vaults of the church are rich in stucco decoration; the main altar made of golden pleated silver...
Queen Sophia, the wife of Wenceslas IV, had the mostly wooden, formerly Gothic Church of St. Bartholomew built in the late 14th century. Its thirty metres high wooden tower with unusual pentagonal ground plan draws attention at first sight. It joins with the octagonal pyramidal tower. The church is unique by the roofed wooden Baroque bridge with arcades, which is over 28 metres long and leads across...
Tobias Jan Becker, the bishop of Hradec Králové initiated the construction of the pilgrimage place on the Marian Hill in the 17th century. At that time there were many pilgrims coming to the hill, because according to the legend mysterious shine was radiating from it. The Way of the Cross leads to the church. It is 1,5 km long. The Baroque gate is decorated with the statues of King David, of St....
Kroměříž is also sometimes called the “Athens of Hanacko Region”. Since the 12th century it was the property of the Olomouc Bishopric, later Archbishopric. Bruno of Schaumburg, the Bishop of Olomouc, originated the cathedral with three-nave Gothic disposition before the year 1262. After the fire in the mid-19th century it was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style. Another significant monument of Kroměříž...
The pilgrimage Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary is called “the pearl of Moravia”. It is one of the oldest pilgrimage places in Moravia. The name Křtiny (Christening) is related to the past, when the pagans were baptised here after Christianity came to Moravia. At the place of the recent Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary there were two churches – a Czech and a German one. The construction of the...
Count F. A. Špork had the large resort with spas built in the beautiful foothills of the Krkonoše Mountains. These days the hospital building of the Brothers of mercy and the Church of the Holy Trinity have preserved together with the Špork family tomb and the staircase with water cascade. The Baroque sculptures by Mathias B. Brown’s workshop, mainly the allegoric cycle of the Twelve Vices and...
The wooden church from the late 17th and the early 18th century from the village Hlíňanec, the place that used to be a part of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, is a typical example of Sub-Carpathian-Ukrainian religious architecture. Its inventory shows the Greek-Catholic consecration. Eduard Šebel, the general director of the Vítkovice coalmines bought the church in 1928. It was transported in pieces to...
The Cathedral of St.Barbora was originated in around 1380 and belongs to the most valuable monuments of the Gothic style in Bohemia. Peter Parléř realized the construction, which was completed in 1420, when the cathedral chancel with a circle of chapels was built. Later the construction was interrupted by the Hussite wars and only after their end the construction of the cathedral continued. Among...
