Panensky Tynec

The Clares' convent church at Panensky Tynec was begun in the early fourteenth century on a scale far beyond what the village could support - a large aisled Gothic church with tall windows and slender piers, in the refined manner of the Prague court workshops. Building stopped, probably during the Hussite wars, with the walls and window tracery up but no vault and no roof, and it was never resumed. It has stood open ever since: six hundred years of walls, arcades and traceried windows with grass on the floor and the sky above, which is an effect no complete church produces. Local tradition attaches a reputation for unusual energy or calm to the interior and people sit in it for that; the claims about ley lines and healing are folklore rather than anything demonstrated. The convent buildings alongside are partly ruined and the village is small.

What you actually see

• A roofless Gothic church - walls, arcades and tracery standing without a vault.
• Building stopped in the 1400s - probably during the Hussite wars, never resumed.
• Court-workshop detail - tall windows and slender piers of Prague quality.
• Grass floor, open sky - six centuries of weather inside the walls.

When to go

April to October. Two hours.

Honest expectations

There is nothing under cover and no facilities beyond a ticket hut. The energy and healing claims are folklore, not established fact. Seasonal opening. The village has very little else.

Nearby

Louny is fifteen kilometres north; Slany is east.