Neratov

Neratov was a German-speaking village in the Orlicke hory with a large baroque pilgrimage church of 1733. The population was expelled after 1945, the village emptied, the church was hit by a shell in May 1945, burned, and its vault collapsed; through the Communist decades it stood roofless and demolition was ordered more than once. From 1992 a Catholic association began rebuilding, and in 2006-2007 the church was given a new roof of glass over a steel frame instead of a solid vault, so the interior is filled with daylight and open to the sky in effect while being weathertight - a solution with few parallels. Around it the association has built a community: sheltered workshops, a bakery, a hostel and a farm employing people with disabilities, which now sustains the village. It is a working church and a working village rather than a monument.

What you actually see

• A glass roof over a ruin - steel and glass replacing the collapsed baroque vault.
• Daylight through the church - the interior open to the sky and still weathertight.
• A rebuilt village - workshops, bakery and farm employing disabled people.
• A ruin saved from demolition - orders to pull it down issued more than once.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is a working church and community, not an attraction - services and daily life come first. The village is remote with limited transport. Facilities are those of the association's own businesses.

Nearby

The Orlicke hory ridge trail runs above; the Polish border is close.