Svaty Kopecek

Svaty Kopecek, the Holy Hill, carries a basilica built between 1669 and 1679 by Giovanni Pietro Tencalla for the Premonstratensians of Hradisko, on the site where a local merchant had vowed a chapel; it was extended in the eighteenth century into a large two-towered church with an enclosed forecourt and side wings, and it is the principal Marian pilgrimage place of the Olomouc region. The interior has frescoes by Josef Ignac Sadler and a Marian statue on the high altar. John Paul II came in 1995 and raised it to a basilica minor. On the slope beside the church is Olomouc Zoo, opened in 1956, spread over about forty hectares of woodland with a large collection and a lookout tower over the Hana plain. The pairing of a baroque pilgrimage church and a zoo on one hill is unusual and it makes for a full family day.

What you actually see

• A two-towered baroque basilica - built from 1669 with an enclosed forecourt.
• Sadler frescoes - the eighteenth-century painted interior.
• Olomouc Zoo - forty hectares of woodland enclosures on the same hill.
• A lookout tower - over the Hana plain from the zoo grounds.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The church closes to visitors during services and pilgrimages. The zoo is a separate ticket and busy at weekends. The hill is a steep climb if walked. Parking fills in summer.

Nearby

Olomouc and its Holy Trinity Column are eight kilometres west.