History of Svatá Hora

<details class="accordion"> <summary>The origins of Svatá Hora</summary> <p>The ancient origins of Svatá Hora are shrouded in legend. It is not known when the original chapel was built, the masonry of which is said to still be partially contained in the masonry of the present basilica. According to legend, it was built as early as the 13th century by a knight of the House of Malovec in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for answering his prayers when she protected him from pursuing robbers. According to other reports, it was built a century later. The famous 17th century Czech historian Bohuslav Balbín, who dealt in detail with the history of Svatá Hora, dates the construction of the chapel to around the beginning of the 16th century. He also recorded some valuable data about the original chapel: it was about 13 m long, 7 m wide and over 4 m high. It had a flat wooden ceiling, rough, uneven walls and a floor of smothered clay. There were two entrances: one in the north and one in the south wall of the nave. It was therefore a very simple, poor, modest sanctuary. The earliest known plan of Svatá Hora, dating from about 1658, shows the central sanctuary, which may have copied the plan of the original chapel, as a building with a short wide nave and a semicircular presbytery of equal width and length. Balbín places it in the time of King Vladislav II or in the early years of the reign of Ferdinand I (first third of the 16th century). According to tradition, the masonry of today's central sanctuary, i.e. the presbytery and sections of the walls to the west, contains the masonry of the original chapel, the analysis of which could contribute to a more precise dating. The construction of the chapel took place at a time of religious fragmentation, religious turmoil and unrest, probably at the expense of the holder of the manor and the town of Příbram. However, the unsophisticated nature of the building does not exclude the possibility that it was built by a hermit himself, without any demanding architectural plan. On the north side, on the slope towards the town, there was indeed a hermitage, a small timbered hut, where the Pribram community installed hermits in the 16th and 1st half of the 17th century. During the 16th century, many chapels with hermitages were built in various places in Bohemia (83 of them were abolished under Joseph II at the end of the 18th century). The naming of the hill above Příbram is also shrouded in mystery. One of the probable interpretations may be the one that attributes the authorship to a folk name, behind which hides a mountain whose sanctity is due to the shrine of the Virgin Mary and the residence of a man of holy life - a hermit.</p> <img src="/storage/pages/editor/d2OzHD335pVNidLEeROgqkFoQPZk1ZRLuOJphShL.jpg"> <p><i>Excerpt from Aretin's map The chapel on the steep and rocky, partly wooded hill above the royal upper town of Příbram was even marked by Pavel Aretin of Ehrenfeld on the first official map of the Bohemian Kingdom from 1619. Pilgrims were already coming to Svatá Hora then and a road from Prague led here, for the repair of which a toll was collected at Zbraslav.</i></p> </details>

<details class="accordion"> <summary>Svatohorská kaple</summary> <p>The purpose of the journey of the pious pilgrims was to worship the Virgin Mary, personified by the famous statue of Our Lady of Svatohorská. However, it was not in the original chapel. According to tradition, the first Archbishop of Prague, Arnošt of Pardubice, himself carved it after the Kladsko Madonna and placed it in his chapel in the Příbram fortress, which he had built himself. During the Hussite wars, the statue is said to have been hidden in the Příbram mines, then briefly in the parish church of St. James and later in the hospital church of St. John the Evangelist in the Březnice suburb of Příbram. They improved the old silver mines and called in experienced German miners from the Ore Mountains to increase the mining; they also gave them the use of the hospital church of St. John the Evangelist, which has been called the German church ever since. The Czech miners brought the statue of the Virgin Mary, the late Gothic statue of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia and two bells back to their church on Svatá Hora.  We do not know exactly when the miners brought the statues to Svatá Hora, but we estimate that it was in the first half of the 16th century. The connection between the Marian statues and the St. Mountain Shrine is almost permanent for the future. Of the many hermits who administered the St. Mountain Chapel, the most famous was Jan Procházka. He lived in Nymburk as a burgher and clothier until 1619, when he went blind. In the following years, he is reported to have lived in Prague, where he lived as a beggar. Years later, at the beginning of 1632, he had a dream about an old man who urged him to go to the Holy Mountain and worship the Virgin Mary there. The same dream was repeated several times, until eventually Procházek dreamt that the old man directly ordered him to go to the Holy Mountain and, if he wanted to regain his sight, to worship the Virgin Mary there. (Bohuslav Balbín identified this old man with St. James the Greater, to whom the town church in Pribram is dedicated.) Procházka did not know the Holy Mountain and did not even know where it was; it had only local significance and was not yet in the awareness of the general public. When he finally found out after many inquiries where Svatá Hora stood, he went there accompanied by his eight-year-old grandson, and they arrived at the site on 10 June 1632. He had no idea that he would be the one to bring Svatá Hora into the public eye. The hermitage, which had been abandoned for a long time, was entrusted to him by the municipality of Pribram with the duty of looking after the chapel. After three days of staying there, Procházka miraculously regained his sight. He could see vaguely at first, but in the following days more and more clearly. Hearing the prayers of pilgrims at Our Lady of the Holy Mountain had been known before, including healing, but Procházek's sight after so many years of blindness was considered truly miraculous. It was confirmed by witness testimonies and medical certificates. The news spread rapidly throughout the country and reached Vienna. Emperor Ferdinand II and his son Ferdinand III had already visited the Holy Mountain in 1634. It was probably the rarest visit to date, which emphasised the importance of the place. In the same year, Procházka dug a well - later the Marian Well. There was no well on Svatá Hora until then and the hermits had to fetch water from the town. The water brought in on hot days could not be enough to refresh many pilgrims. The chapel of St. Mary's Mountain was without doors, without glass windows, although tidy and maintained by the hermit Procházka, but deteriorated with age and the adverse effects of weather and war. After Procházka's incredible recovery, the influx of pilgrims increased significantly. The interest of the surrounding nobility also increased. The poor condition of the chapel moved the conscience of many and they began to buy new doors, windows, ceiling, organ and other interior furnishings at their own expense. The dean of Příbram, with a shortage of clergy during the Thirty Years' War, could not meet the wishes of the pious pilgrims and rarely visited Svatá Hora. The conseils of Příbram wanted to have a permanent spiritual administration there and wanted to entrust it to a spiritual order. After a long negotiation it was decided to entrust the administration of the Holy Mountain to the Jesuits of Březnice, who had already been striving for it. They felt that the pilgrimage chapel with the then already famous Marian statue was an ideal place of pilgrimage which, thanks to its excellent location in the very centre of Bohemia, could be turned into the most famous Marian pilgrimage site in the country. It was given to them in 1647. The Jesuits connected Březnice, where they had their dormitory, with the shrine as early as 1649 by the so-called holy way of sixteen crosses with images, which was later replaced by brick niche chapels.
</p> <img src="/storage/pages/editor/RuWBe0xRyIrA8FqzA8kTPFxwHQy8sC48yheiZJyB.jpg"> <p><i>First sketch of the Holy Mountain. Probably the oldest depiction of Pribram with the Holy Mountain</i></p> </details>

<details class="accordion"> <summary>The Jesuits at Svatá Hora</summary> <p>The Jesuits of Svatá Hora helped in the spiritual administration in the wider area, but most of all they were devoted to the pilgrims. They spread and increased the glory of Our Lady of St. Mary of the Mount through spiritual celebrations, sermons, books, pictures, etc. Soon the chapel was not enough and in 1658 the chapels of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier were added on the sides and a tower was built above it for the bells and the eternal light that shone far into the countryside at night like a beacon light. The chapel was connected to Příbram for the convenience of the procession participants by the first staircase, which was not covered at that time. In the same year, the famous Welsh architect Carlo Lurago (settled in Prague) drew up the first project for the generous construction of a pilgrimage site according to the conceptual design of the Jesuit P. Benjamin Schleyer, which was based on Italian models. The plan was slightly modified and implemented on the scale we know today. Carlo Lurago had worked for the Jesuits of March earlier. In Březnice he built for them, for example, the large church of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius. He was the most important architect of that time in our country. With his excellent projects he won over the leaders of the Jesuit order, who commissioned him to draw up many other projects for a number of mainly sacral buildings in Bohemia. The Jesuits won the affection of not only the surrounding nobility, but also of the richest and most important provincial officials and grandees, and with it their generous financial support. Patrons from among the nobility had individual chapels decorated, which, in addition to the dedication, bore their names. Not only local artists, but also artists from Prague, mostly of Wallachian origin, took part in the decoration. Even in the 17th century, the St. Mary's Mountain complex became one of the largest and most important early Baroque buildings in the country. In addition to the nobility, the towns (Prague, Plzeň, Mníšek and Březnice) and especially the countless crowds of now unknown pilgrims participated in the construction and decoration.
</p> <img src="/storage/pages/editor/f09zyyQVeITLmmyc3MVWNYjef5iN3csDy37eTPMH.webp"> <p><i>Svatohorská Madonna. The love statue of Our Lady of Svatohora is a Gothic woodcut, for which the exact determination of the year of creation based on style analysis is not possible due to its rustic treatment, which allows to assume the survival of the style for many decades. The sculpture is of local origin and seems to inaugurate the local folk carving tradition of the Příbram miners.</i></p> </details>

<details class="accordion"> <summary>Places of pilgrimage</summary> <p>The central shrine on a raised terrace surrounded by chapels and an ambit below the terrace was an architectural solution unknown in Bohemia until then. The trio of open chapels on the eastern side of the original sanctuary - probably a direct import from sunny Italy, which did not take into account the harsher Alpine climate - had a counterpart on the western side until the mid-18th century, when it had to be bricked up and thus protected from strong westerly winds, rain and blizzards. This type of pilgrimage site became the model for numerous other pilgrimage sites that were later built in Bohemia. The central Marian shrine was continuously decorated and modified. The low ceiling was raised in 1670, probably to the height of the present main cornice, and a flat ceiling was added, while a new tower was built above the church. New stairs to Příbram were built, this time covered. From the period shortly after 1700, the High Baroque left significant traces in the form of the beautiful entrance portals - the Prague and the Birch - with rich sculptural decoration, several portals of the corner chapels in the ambulatory and the framing of the niches on the sides of the main altar in the church (the original sanctuary was already referred to as a church).
The two entrance portals in particular are among the best that was built in Bohemia at this time and can be attributed, on the basis of a preliminary analysis, to the work of the most important architect of the time, Kryštof Dientzenhofer, who also worked for the Jesuits in Prague and is even documented here as a renowned expert. His son Kilián Ignác, the most famous architect of the High and Late Baroque period not only in Bohemia but in the whole of Europe, also designed a monumental double staircase for Svatá Hora on the northern side of the ambyte before 1727, connecting to a covered corridor with a staircase to the town. The design was realised between 1727 and 1728, but in the simplified form that has survived. The Holy Mountain, embellished with works of art by many painters, sculptors, plasterers and artisans, was a true wonder for pilgrims who flocked from all sides in great processions. As the number of pilgrims continued to increase, the fame of the Holy Mountain spread beyond the borders of Bohemia, and the number of pilgrims from Bavaria, Austria and Hungary became ever greater and their visits became regular. Bohuslav Balbín noted that "the roads of this region are not torn up for the constant processions to the Holy Mountain, the whole region is literally sanctified by piety". Religious festivals became more and more frequent, solemn and flamboyant. Solemn writings were printed, gates were built, altars were consecrated. The main altar in the central sanctuary was built (in several stages) entirely of silver, a thing unprecedented in our country up to that time. The most attention was paid to the statue of Our Lady of St. Mary of Sorrows. She was dressed in precious clothes, the number of which kept increasing. They were of sumptuous fabrics, richly decorated, but even that was not rare enough. A gold, jewelled, enamelled and pearl-encrusted wrought iron armour was made for her in 1723 from the gifts of pilgrims, but Marian worshippers wanted even more - gold royal crowns.
The crowning of Marian images and statues on pilgrimage was introduced in the Catholic Church in 1640 at the instigation of the Italian nobleman Alexander Sforza Pallavicini, who came to the conclusion that if the reigning princes and kings wore golden crowns, all the more so did this right belong to the Queen of Heaven and her Son. Marian images and statues were crowned in the most famous places of pilgrimage, first in Italy and then in other countries. This privilege was finally granted to the statue of Our Lady of St. Mary of the Holy Mountain, and thus to the entire Holy Mountain, which has become one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in the world. The coronation took place on 22 June 1732. Some new altars were confirmed for the occasion, the Prague Gate was covered with illusory murals, and the whole of Svatá Hora was decorated with a magnificence and splendour that had never been seen before. The coronation ceremony was held for eight days in the presence of an unprecedented number of pilgrims, nobility and clergy. The celebration contributed to the further expansion of the glory and fame of the Holy Mountain. The anniversary of the coronation has been celebrated every year since then until the present day on the third Sunday after Pentecost. At about the same time, the still empty vaulted areas of the ambulatory (between the ambulatory chapels) were covered with ceiling paintings of a humanized character, depicting various unfortunate events, dangers, or misfortunes that had occurred, in which Our Lady of St. Mary Major heard the pleas of her admirers and helped them in their distress.
In 1745-1751, the Marian church was enlarged to include three open chapels on the west side by walling them in and breaking through the west wall of the church. This enlarged the central sanctuary to the extent we know it today. However, even this enlarged church was not enough to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims and the Jesuits considered extending it further west and connecting it with the side chapels of St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier to form a large three-aisle church. They even had plans drawn up for this large extension and rebuilding (they are still preserved in the archives), but it never came to fruition. The Jesuit order was temporarily dissolved in 1773 and the administration was taken over by lay administrators (from 1776 with the title of provost, since in that year the residence was elevated to a permanent provostry), who administered Svatá Hora for 86 years. The most notable structural alterations from this period concerned the oldest parts of the Marian church, whose flat ceiling of 1670 was replaced by a vaulted ceiling.</p> <img src="/storage/pages/editor/wyqtYZNtaVbBOmhlBJP79Wtp7olpnY164UYEY9GD.jpg"> <p><i>Coruns. The crowns for the Coronation of the statue of Our Lady of St. Mary of Sorrows, held in 1732, were made by the Prague goldsmith Jan Ferdinand Schachtel</i></p> </details&gt

<details class="accordion"> <summary>Saint Hora under the care of the Redemptorists</summary> <p>In 1861, the Redemptorists (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) were given the care of Saint Hora and remained there until 1950. In 1903 they had the church repaired and its oldest part, still without decorations, covered with new figural and ornamental stucco decoration. After extensive repairs and renovation, they asked Pope Pius X to grant the title "basilica" to the pilgrimage church, a title with which the Pope exceptionally elevates or honors the most famous churches. Pius X recognized the Redemptorists' request as justified and issued a special breve "Sacris aedibus", by which he elevated St. Hora to the status of "minor basilica" in 1905. St. Hora is not a basilica in the sense of a building type, but in the religious (symbolic) sense of a royal palace, i.e., the palace of Our Lady Queen of Heaven, and the title applies to the entire pilgrimage site. Over time, however, the custom of naming only the actual Church of the Assumption as a basilica took hold. The basilica and the eastern open chapels received several new altars and finally the area in front of the main gate, the Prague Gate, was also dignified. The entire pilgrimage site has required constant care and several major repairs or reconstruction over the centuries. Many have been saved and preserved up to the present time, many have fallen into disrepair, such as the murals on the eastern Prague Gate from 1732. in the afternoon of April 1978, a great fire broke out at Svatá Hora, which completely destroyed the roof of the monastery, the chancel and the northern part of the ambyts, including the clock tower; the towers above the Mníšek and Plzeň chapels were also badly damaged, as were the ceiling paintings in this part of the ambyts. Apart from these paintings, everything was restored by 1982 (on the 250th anniversary of the coronation of the Virgin Mary's love statue). Due to the weather conditions, the murals in the ambyts are maintained only with the greatest effort and at great expense. Restoration works are carried out here systematically, the most recent modification was given to the basilica in 1988, when it was designed by the academician of the Academy of Fine Arts. arch. Josef Vlček, a new marble floor was laid, a new altar, chair, ambo and lighting fixtures were installed, and the famous Silver Altar was reinstalled.
</p> <img src="/storage/pages/editor/qXFrFsw3ZHBxCABB3vTkJnRwL5cgXIR8xOhAM3nE.jpg"> <p><i>Historic view of the front of the site.A more than 100-year-old photograph taken from the windows of the former St. Mary's School, which stood facing diagonally to the square in the area of the current shops, shows a crowd of pilgrims on the old yet unpaved area in front of the Prague Gate.</i></p> </details>

<details class="accordion"> <summary>The Post-1989 Period</summary> <p>Since 24 March 1990, the spiritual administration of the Holy Mountain has once again been entrusted to the priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer - the Redemptorists. The first administrator and rector of the monastery was P. Josef Brichacek. At the same time, Svatá Hora became the seat of the provincial of the Redemptorists. In 1993, the St. Mountain Steps were reconstructed, which were essentially a ruin, as they had not been maintained since the Second World War and had been damaged by fire. Unfortunately, vandalism is their greatest enemy today. Other major events of the last decade of the 20th century were the celebration of the 650th anniversary of the St. Mary of St. Mary's love statue in 1998 and the meeting of the youth of the Czech and Moravian dioceses in August 1999. The Apostolic Nuncio to Czechoslovakia (1990-1992) and to the Czech Republic (1993-2001), Archbishop Giovanni Coppa, visited the Holy Mountain very frequently during his mission. After the fall of communism, pilgrims and tourists from all over the world have visited the Holy Mountain. Cooperation with other pilgrimage sites, such as Bodenmais in Bavaria, has also developed, as has an active partnership with the Valle di Ledro in northern Italy, a valley whose inhabitants lived through the First World War in and around Příbram. In 2005, the shrine celebrated 100 years since it was awarded the title of basilica minor. On the occasion of this anniversary, the National Pilgrimage to Svatá Hora was held and a new liturgical space was installed inside with an altar, ambo and other liturgical items from the workshop of sculptor Otmar Oliva. Between 2006 and 2018, two new organs were built for the Svatá Hora Basilica by Vladimír Šlajch. In particular, thanks to the care of the civic association Matica svatohorská, repairs to the site continued, culminating in the overhaul of the entire site thanks to a large grant in 2015. Thanks to this grant, Svatá Hora received a new look, lecture and exhibition spaces and much more. The Prague Province of the Redemptorists, which merged with the Slovak Province in February 2017, ended its presence at Svatá Hora in 2025. From September 2025, this famous pilgrimage site came under the administration of the Archbishopric of Prague and the first diocesan priests were the parish priest, P. Miloš Szabo, and his parochial vicar, P. Matěj Jirsa.