THE GOLDEN ROUTE
links the most renowned locations in Bohemia and Moravia. Pilgrims of the Catholic Church frequent ancient sacred sites and miraculous statues in the hope that their prayers will be answered; admirers of historical architecture should not miss, for exampe, the pilgrimage church in Žiár nad Sázavou, a UNESCO monument and one of the most prominent achievements of international architecture.

Velehrad, a memorable site connected with the activities of St Cyril and St Methodius, Byzantine missionaries who arrived in Southern Moravia in 863 on the invitation of the local monarch. They were invited to create a kind of counterbalance to the influence of the first Christian missions coming into the country from Bavaria and the Salzburg region, i.e. those trained by the Holy Roman Church. The missionaries conducted divine services in Old Church Slavonic, a new language comprehensible to the local people, and created their own script known as Glagolitic script. Methodius was appointed archbishop and his disciples were active in the Czech Lands long after the local monarchs had decided definitively in favour of West European culture. In 1985 the Holy Father granted ”the Golden Rose” to the Velehrad basilica, a prestigious distinction which only Lourdes in France, Guadalupe in Mexico and Czestochowa in Poland can boast of. The main pilgrimage takes place here on July 5, the day commemorating St Cyril and St Methodius, divine services are held daily.

Svatý Hostýn
In ancient times Mount Hostýn, overlooking the vast Haná lowlands, attracted the attention of Celtic and later also Slavic tribes. Legend has it that back in the 9th century St Cyril and St Methodius left a Marian picture here. The local Baroque Jesuit Church of the Assumption (since 1982 a basilica minor), also referred to as ”the Protector of Moravia”, contains a statue of the Madonna with a crown. The church is the most frequently visited pilgrimage site in Moravia and every day several divine services are held here.

Žďár nad Sázavou
A pilgrimage to the Czech Republic would be unimaginable without a tour of some of the stunning achievements of architect Giovanni Santini (1677-1723), the creator of the highly distintive Czech Baroque-Gothic style and an architectural genius gifted with unlimited artistic inventiveness. The architect’s masterpiece, the magnificent pilgrimage Church of St John Nepomuk on Zelená (Green) Mountain, was commissioned, together with a range of other grand projects in the region, by the abbot of the nearby Cistercian monastery. Adapted in the later period as a chateau, this private noble residence, now partly open to the general public, offers a number of interesting exhibitions.

Svatá Hora
Svatá Hora translates into English as Holy Mountain. This lively Czech pilgrimage site, displaying the characteristic features of the Baroque style, is located on a hilltop overlooking the small mining town of Poíbram. Since the 17th century, thousands of pilgrims have flocked to Svatá Hora to worship ”the Queen of the Silver Mountains”, a miraculous statuette of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus, believed to be carved from pear wood by Arnošt of Pardubice, the first Archbishop of Bohemia. The statuette, blackened by the ravages of time, graces the splendid silver altar here. In 1732 the Madonna of Svatá Hora was crowned by the Holy Farther, and in 1905 the church was promoted to basilica minor. The site is the focus of a lively Christian community with daily holy masses and frequent celebrations. The chief event, the Marian celebration of the Assumption, takes place around August 15.

The Infant Jesus of Prague
This gentle wax statuette, miraculously rescued from the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War, is worshiped in particular in Hispanic countries as an eternal epitome of innocence and chastity. The artefact came to Bohemia from Spain in the 17th century as a wedding gift. The world-renowned statuette can be found on display in the early Baroque Church of Our Lady Victorious located in Karmelitská Street in the Lesser Quarter of Prague. Every day nuns come to clad the statuette in another of its many magnificent garbs. On the 25th day of every month, a celebration in honour of the Infant Jesus of Prague takes place here, and over Easter, on Day of the Ascension of Christ, there is a celebration in remembrance of the statuette’s coronation in 1655.