Many sites shrouded in mystery and sometimes even unusual, feed the imagination of the Czech and Moravian countries, naturally placed at the heart of the history of Europe.
The stunning St. George’s Church in Lukova is a perfect example. The church is located in northwest Bohemia, where it was built in the 14th century before experiencing very unfortunate events since it was destroyed and then rebuilt between 1854 and 1858 in a mixture of neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles.
In 1968, the ceiling and part of the roof collapsed on the faithful who had come to attend a funeral mass, with a total death toll of 32 people during the accident. It is naturally that the church is considered cursed and that the masses will thereafter be celebrated outside. In addition, all valuables will be stolen during the communist period: paintings, statues, the bell and even the clock.
50 years after its abandonment and while we are seriously thinking about razing it, a Czech artist, Jakub Hadrava, decides to invest the place. He installs 32 statues draped in white plaster on the pews of the church, like materialized “ghosts” of the faithful who died in 1968, with a rather striking realistic effect. The scene is also meant to recall the 3 million Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.
Velke Losinytown of water in the region from Olomouc in Moraviaalso renowned for its handmade papermaking workshops and for its renaissance castle, meanwhile, sadly went down in history for her trials of the Inquisition. At the end of the 17th century took place there
the biggest witch hunt in the whole region. It all started with a beggar named Marina Schunová who stole a waffle during a mass.
Countess Angelia of Galle (owner of the kingdom), asks Jindrich Boblig, the highest inquisitor of the region, to condemn the beggar whom he tortures until she confesses to being a witch. Many victims of Boblig also claimed to have flown on broomsticks, organized witch circles or even fornicated with the devil. More than 250 people were burned at the stake of the inquisition in Velke Losiny during this terrible period.
The ruins of the Rosa Coeli convent (of the Celestial Rose) located 18 km south-west of Brno in Moravia near the town of Dolni Kounice is also absolutely worth discovering. The monumentality of the convent and its splendor, despite the fact that it is in ruins, rank it among the major works of European Gothic architecture. It is also the oldest women’s convent in Moravia.
We are necessarily marked for life by the visit of the ossuary of Sedlec To Kutna Hora, which still remains today an unusual witness to a time when the relationship to death was completely different. Located 70 km from the capital Prague, the famous medieval ossuary of Sedlec lists chandeliers, candlesticks and columns of skulls, since everything in the chapel is made of bone.
In total, it is more than 500,000 tourists who go there each year, where they can currently witness the restoration process which should be completed in 2030. The Sedlec ossuary is one of the 20 tourist attractions most visited in the Czech Republic.
Finally, it is in Northern Bohemia, in the crystal valley where craftsmanship of an exceptional quality recognized throughout the world has been maintained for centuries, that one can find a church decorated with 300 crystal objects from the glassworks of Jiri Panicek, located just opposite the Catholic building.
The church known as the Exaltation-de-la-Sainte-Croix, built at the beginning of the 20th century, was in an advanced state of disrepair when the glassmaker and his entire team began to transform it into a veritable art gallery. You can observe more than 300 glass objects inspired by fauna, flora, but also sacred motifs. The church now occupies a prominent place in local life and hosts many cultural events.
