Svaty Hostyn

Hostyn rises to 735 metres above the Wallachian foothills and has been a place of pilgrimage since at least the seventeenth century; the basilica of the Assumption on the summit was built between 1721 and 1748 on an oval plan with two towers and holds a painted image of the Virgin protecting Moravia. It is the most visited pilgrimage site in Moravia, with the main feast days drawing tens of thousands. Two things distinguish the hill beyond the church. Dusan Jurkovic built a Way of the Cross here in 1903, with chapels in a folk-influenced Secession manner and mosaics by Jano Kohler, which is a serious piece of Czech modern religious art. And on the summit stands a lookout tower of 1897 combined with a chapel and, alongside, a wind turbine. There is a prehistoric hillfort rampart on the hill, first built around 1200 BC and rebuilt several times, the Celts among the builders.

History

The summit carries a hillfort with an earth and stone rampart 4-8 metres high, first built by people of the Lusatian culture around 1200 BC and destroyed and rebuilt several times, among others by the Celts. The first medieval chapel of the Virgin Mary was probably built by miners and is first mentioned in 1544, with no reference to the legend of a miracle by the Virgin, which Bohuslav Balbín first recorded in 1665. As pilgrims multiplied, a new basilica was built in 1721-1748 with a Way of the Cross and a pilgrims' hospice, and a chapel by a spring of "holy water" believed to heal earned Hostýn the nickname "Moravian Lourdes"; a stairway of 240 steps from the spring to the basilica was built in 1909. In 1903 the architect Dušan Jurkovič built new open-air Stations of the Cross, and the greatest crowds came in August 1912, when the statue of the Virgin was crowned with a golden crown blessed in Rome by Pius X and some 200,000 pilgrims and visitors came within ten days (Wikipedia, Hostýn).

What to look for

• An oval basilica - built 1721-1748 with two towers on the summit.
• Jurkovic's Way of the Cross - Secession chapels with Kohler mosaics, from 1903.
• A lookout tower of 1897 - combined with a chapel on the top.
• A hillfort rampart - prehistoric earth and stone walls around the summit.

When to go

May to September. Half a day.

Things to know

It is a devotional site first - major feast days bring enormous crowds and full car parks. The summit is exposed. Facilities are pilgrim-oriented. Winter access can be difficult.

Nearby

Bystrice pod Hostynem is below; Kromeriz and its gardens are west.

Key facts