Wooden Churches And Chapels Of Moravia And Silesia

Due to various geological, social and national conditions, many wooden sacral buildings have been preserved in the area of Tesin, and near the Beskydy Mountains. According to historical documents, at least 73 wooden or part-wooden buildings have been found here. Some are in the following communities: Hrcava, Nydek, Bystrice on Olse, Sedliste, Guty, Repiste, etc. A recently rebuilt church is in Ostrava-Hrabova( it had burned down in 2002). In the Beskydy Mountains there are churches in Na Gruni, Na Bile,, in Kuncice pod Ondrejnikem, also in Tamovice near Stramberk, or in Rybi. The church in Ticha near Frenstat pod Radhostem burned down( around 1960); the church in Verkovice near Pribor ( a wooden model of it can be found in the Wooden Village in the Roznov Skansen.

Other such churches can be found in Valassko, near the town of Opava and in the Jeseniky. On the Radhost Mountain there is the chapel of St. Cyrillus and Methodus (built of stone, surrounded by wood). In addition to wooden churches, there are about twenty little wooden chapels in this area, for example in Frydek-Mistek, at Horni Celadna, Bila Hlavata, in the Rehabilitation Center in Beskydy, in Kuncice, in Velke Kralovice, in Karlova Studanka, etc. There are also many small campaniles in this area- near Trojanovice, Pustevny, in Roznov pod Radhostem, and elsewhere.

From various sources it became possible to identify altogether 336 wooden or partwooden churches in Bohemia and Moravia and 224 in Slovakia. Of those, only about 130 were preserved in more or less original form. In Moravia and Silesia there are about 179 documented buildings, most of which do not exist any more. Most of those still standing are around the towns Frydek- Mistek.

EXHIBIT- Wooden Churches and Chapels or Moravia and Silesia, located in the Museum of Beskydy in Frydek- Mistek (open through the summer season 2005)

For more information: P. K. Eichler (1888) " Poutni mista a milostive obrazy na Morave a rakouskem Slezsku", 1888- (Places of Pilgrimage and Religious Pictures in Moravia and Austrian Silesia), or in the book of J. Polasek (2001), or in the catalog of J. Veselska (1994).