Leaning Church of Karvina

The church of St Peter of Alcantara was built in 1736 in what was then the village of Karvina, in the middle of the Ostrava-Karvina coalfield. Mining under it from the nineteenth century onwards caused the ground to subside progressively: the building has sunk about thirty-seven metres from its original level and tilted roughly six and a half to seven degrees out of vertical, which is more than the tower at Pisa, and it has cracked, been repaired and been stabilised repeatedly. The village around it was demolished, so the church now stands alone in open post-mining ground with nothing else left of the settlement it served, which is the striking part. It has been consolidated and is used occasionally. The lean is visible immediately and disorienting inside. It is the clearest single monument to what deep coal did to this landscape.

What you actually see

• A church sunk thirty-seven metres - the ground taken down by mining beneath it.
• A lean of about seven degrees - greater than the tower at Pisa.
• A demolished village around it - the church left alone in open ground.
• A disorienting interior - the tilt obvious as soon as you step in.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The interior opens only occasionally - check locally. The surroundings are post-industrial waste ground and reclaimed spoil, which some visitors find bleak. There are no facilities on site.

Nearby

Karvina centre is north; Ostrava and Lower Vitkovice are west.