Temples and towers from Northern Moravia and Silesia will open to tourists

Churches and towers with guides are open from Wednesday 1st May to October. “Open temples are one of our most important projects to support tourism in the region. They are among the most well-known brands, such as Technotrasa,” pointed out Deputy Governor for Culture and Heritage Care Lukáš Curylo (KDU-ČSL), adding that while wandering around the region, interested parties can not only admire sacred spaces, but also relax.

“I can see that people are starting to take advantage of this take-out offer more and more,” he added.

Each year the list of churches that will open to the public is different. This year, for example, the Marian Basilica in Frýdek fell out of it due to reconstruction. On the contrary, the newcomers are the church of St. Ignáce na Borová pod Lysou horou, the tower of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Bruntál or the wooden church in Dolní Marklovice, which is a part of Petrovice u Karviná.

Jeseník will also join

This year’s edition also brings several system innovations. In addition to four dozen churches and towers with a guide service, several churches open without guides and temples accessible by appointment will be added to the project. These are, for example, the Church of the Holy Spirit in Opava or the Chapel of the Divine Heart in Mariano, which is unmistakable due to its rich decoration in the so-called Beuron style.

So far, only churches in the Moravian-Silesian region have been open to the public, but this year churches in the Jeseník district in the Olomouc region will also join. “For example, the parish church in Jeseník will be open without a guide, and it will also be possible to enter the cemetery church in Javorník, where restorers have uncovered rare frescoes in recent years,” said Ondřej Elbel, press spokesman for the Bishopric of Ostrava-Opavský.

“We try to create packages that allow tourists to find more accessible objects in one city. For example, in Karviná it is the church of St. Crosses in Fryštát, the so-called Leaning Church and Dolní Marklovice are also nearby,” said project coordinator Adéla Pánek Hudečková.