Zdar nad Sazavou

Zdar nad Sazavou,  Saint John of Nepomuk's Church 

There's one place in particular that is worth seeing in Zdar nad Sazavou, I'm talking about well known Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk. Actually it was the only stop we did there, time was running and our day plan didn’t allow us to see more. We drove through city centre searching for some signs leading to church, but if not GPS we could have got lost. The Green Hill, because that’s exactly where the church is situated is a bit distant, let’s say 3 or 4 kilometres away from the city centre. Every year thousands of pilgrimages come to Zdar nad Sazavou to worship John Nepomuk or... to see the unconventional building. I need to admit that I was astonished by the building’s structure. Architect Jan Blazej Santini-Aichl did a really great job, church was built in Baroque Gothic style in 1719-1722 on the composition of five-pointed star, probably the symbol of five wounds of Jesus Christ, but also history of John of Nepomuk gets involved in it.

But let’s back to the beginning...we parked in neighbour residential district, just few steps from the hill. Sky was overcast, but maybe that’s better. There was just few sightseers. View from 172 cm above ground is not as beautiful as from bird’s eye, but still this place is a must when travelling around the Czech Republic. So better prepare yourself to visit it. It doesn’t take long to be fulfilled with photos and information, so you can stop for a moment on your  way to Prague or Pardubice. You can find information board at the main entrance. We were unfortunate, because the church was closed this day, they were preparing for Church’s night. Which was also a pity that we couldn’t stay any longer. We had to satisfy ourselves with outside sightseeing, which after all wasn’t so bad....There’s a small cemetery at Church’s yard. The composition of five-pointed star from the inside looked like small chapels linked with corridors, amazing....In addition there’re three other entrances, each on different side of the earth. One of them lead to a city’s cemetery, other showed beautiful chapel of Saint Marketa at the pond.

I wish I had money to see the church from bird’s eye view, but I was more than please to be able to go to that religious place and feel its atmosphere.

By the way, the Church became one of the UNESCO heritage in 1944.