the ninth stage of hiking
Rajnochovice - Hostýn
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Basic information about the trail
A very popular but physically challenging tourist trail among Rajnochovice and Svatý Hostýn with an ascent to Kelčský Javorník with a lookout tower and the important Marian pilgrimage site of Svatý Hostýn. The starting point of the stage is the pilgrimage church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and St. Anne in Rajnochovice. The trail passes through the village of Rajnochovice and crosses the Hostýn Hills Nature Park. The last part of the trail leads to the pilgrimage site of Svatý Hostýn, which is the finishing point of the stage.
What's ahead of us?
- Starting point: Rajnochovice
- Ending point: Svatý Hostýn
- Distance: 15,3 km
- Estimated travel time: 5:47 hour
- Difficulty: high
- Altitude: ascent 868 m, descent 577 m
- Surface: mainly forest paved and unpaved paths
Our tip:
Make sure you have plenty of food and drink for this stage, as there is no restaurant on the trail where you can refresh yourself, except at Svatý Hostýn.
What can be seen?
Archaeological, pilgrimage, technical and natural monuments.
Church of St. Anna
- Rajnochovice 12, 768 71 Rajnochovice
- www.farnost-rajnochovice.cz
- farajnochovice@ado.cz
- +420 573 391 156
Church of St. Anne
he most important historical architectural monument of Rajnochovice is the local church, which is closely related to the foundation of Rajnochovice. On the site of today’s cemetery (to the left of the current church) there was a wooden church of St. Anne from the 12th century. The church gradually decayed under the increasing number of visitors, so the parish priest asked for help in Olomouc. Olomouc Cardinal Wolfgang of Schrattenbach decided to build a spacious church of the Nativity of St. Mary and St. Anne next to the wooden church, designed by the Italian architect G. P. Tencal. The temple was built between 1711 and 1716, and in 1717 it received its bells. After the sons of Nicholas (the founder of the village, see history) settled near the church in 1721, one of them became the bell-ringer.
The church is an architectural gem of the Baroque period. It is also called the “cathedral of Wallachia” because of its dimensions (ground plan 38 x 12 m). A wide stone staircase leads to the entrance of the church. There is a stone coat of arms of Cardinal Schrattenbach and a sundial above the entrance, with statues of St. John of Nepomuk and St. John Sarkander on the sides. There is also a stone pieta in front of the church (seated Mary with Christ on her lap) with the year 1815 and a stone cross from 1737.
The church itself has a vaulted ceiling, 22 windows with lunettes on the sides. In fine weather, the sun’s rays create admirable illumination. On the main altar is a wooden sculpture of St. Anne with the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus. It probably comes from the original wooden church. Around the sculpture is a decorative wooden carving. There is a painting of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary behind the main altar. In 1930, a new organ was installed in the original baroque organ case from 1720, which is one of the oldest in Moravia. The church has excellent acoustics.
At the same time as the church, the archbishop had a small mansion built for occasional stays. In 1727 a parish was established here with the right to keep registers of births, marriages and deaths. The parish building is currently the home of the Youth Centre of the Archdiocese of Olomouc – “The Port”. Young people have the opportunity to spend their free days together, play sports, attend lectures, spiritual renewal, etc. A similar purpose is served by the recreational facility in Košov – “Archa”. The centre has conditions for year-round accommodation.
Rajnochovice Forest Railway
- Rajnochovice 126, 768 71 Rajnochovice
- www.rajnochovicka.cz
- tomas.hegar@seznam.cz
- +420 725 039 237
Historical forest railway in Rajnochovice
The Rajnochovice railway is a significant chapter in the history of Rajnochovice and the entire region. Between 1904 and 1906, a narrow-gauge forest railway was built here, 8.3 km long, which ran along the slopes from the steam sawmill to the area above Podhradní Lhota (below Kečský Javorník). The railway was built to transport timber to the sawmill. The locomotive would take empty wagons to the remote forests in the morning, while the loaded wagons would go down by themselves. The log cars had a capacity of 6000kg. The forest railway also had two passenger cars, which were used for Sunday trips of the estate and their guests.
The railway continued to operate without problems until 1918. The Archbishop’s superiors even planned to build another section of the railway to the Tesák area and a connection between the sawmill and the Rajnochovice railway station. During World War I, however, there was insufficient maintenance and breakdowns began to occur (even locomotives derailed). Locomotive traffic was therefore stopped and empty bogies began to be pulled by horses. In 1921 the railway traffic was stopped and in 1925 the final liquidation was ordered. After the forest railway in Rajnochovice, the picturesque forest road “štreka” remains to this day.
Recently, efforts have been made to restore this historical gem of the village through the civic association Society for the Restoration of the Rajnochovice Forest Railway. The basic aim of the Society is, as already mentioned, the restoration of the narrow gauge forest railway in Rajnochovice and the building of a forest railway museum with an information centre (the Society has already managed to buy the land and property opposite the sawmill), running demonstration rides, bringing together those interested in the history of forest and other narrow gauge railways and also organizing cultural and educational events.
Source: kudyznudy.cz
Lookout tower Kelčský Javorník
- Rajnochovice, 768 71 Rajnochovice
- www.podhostynsko.cz
- mikroregion@podhostynsko.cz
- +420 573 390 227
Kelčský Javorník lookout tower
There is a lookout tower at the top of Kelčský Javorník (open since September 2015). The aim of the tower is to increase the tourist attractiveness of the Kelčský Javorník and Hostýn Hills and to offer an unusual view of the region. There used to be a wooden lookout tower at the top of Kelčský Javorník in the Hostýn Hills. However, it had to be demolished for safety reasons. The new tower was built according to the design of ing. Ondrej Balazik and architect Marta Balážiková. The tower consists of a central steel column with a spiral staircase. The outer lining of the tower consists of 12 bent larch slats, the plan of which resembles a clock face. During the ascent, the visitor can observe the surroundings through the slats. Every eleventh step of the 156 steps is a stop with a view. The last step is the main viewing platform. Access to the observation tower is unlimited and free of charge.
Source: kudyznudy.cz
Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
- Svatý Hostýn 115, 76861 Chvalčov
- www.hostyn.cz
- matice@hostyn.cz
- +420 573 381 693
Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Hostýn, with its Marian shrine (Basilica minor), is the most visited pilgrimage site in Moravia and, after Velehrad, also the most memorable. The expositions of the Holy Hostýn Museum present the historical development of Hostýn from prehistory to the present day. The Hostýn Hills, named after the monumental mountain Hostýn, are a spur of the Moravian-Slovak Carpathian Mountains and therefore also the western part of the Vsetín Hills. Hostýn Mountain consists of two peaks – the higher northern peak with a lookout tower and a wind power station (736 m), the pilgrimage church and the monastery house are located on the western peak (718 m). Numerous archaeological investigations have shown that Hostýn was inhabited as early as the Stone Age.
The dominant building of the whole Hostýn is the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (completed in 1748) with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The basilica is surrounded by amphitheatres with chapels. At the beginning of the staircase leading up to the basilica is the Water Chapel with a spring of miraculous water. Very valuable is Jurkovič’s Stations of the Cross with Kohler mosaics. The last stop of the path (the round chapel of the Holy Sepulchre) is near the forest cemetery. Here are the eternal resting places of personalities whose lives were connected with Svatý Hostýn. There is a 15 m high lookout tower with 59 iron stairs on the higher peak. There is a wind power station next to the tower.
Holy Hostýn Museum
The former museum was located in the lookout tower, today’s museum is located in the unique Jurkovič Hall in the grounds of the pilgrimage houses. It presents the historical development of Hostýn from prehistory to the present day in its exhibitions on the ground floor. There is an exhibition of natural history, flora and fauna of the Hostýn Hills in the gallery. All exhibits are accompanied by descriptions and there is also modern audiovisual technology. The founder and operator of the museum is the Holy Hostýn Foundation.
The Basilica Minor underwent a major reconstruction in the winter of 2010 and 2011, which included the insulation of the church. In the summer of 2011, the boiler room in the sanctuary was converted into a training centre.
Source: kudyznudy.cz
Jurkovič's Way of the Cross
- Svatý Hostýn 115, 76861 Chvalčov
- www.hostyn.cz
- matice@hostyn.cz
- +420 573 381 693
The Stations of the Cross by Dušan Jurkovič
Jurkovič situated his Stations of the Cross northeast of the church. On the architecturally designed horseshoe-shaped path, he irregularly placed thirteen stops, varying in shape, which seemed to emerge from the forest on the right side. Eight of them descend from the top of the church, while the ninth stop rises on a massive stone terrace, which is ascended by a series of steps. The termination of the Stations of the Cross forms the existing rotunda, incorporated into the cemetery grounds. Inside is a stone relief of the Laying in the Grave. The Stations of the Cross were built gradually from 1904 until the Second World War. The hardships of the war and the associated lack of funding disrupted this magnificent plan of Jurkovič. Many of the planned buildings had to be abandoned, such as the assembly hall, the bell tower, the chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the commercial bazaar and many others.
The individual stops are roughly of three types. They are designed as open chapels, consisting of a wall of cut stone blocks with a mosaic image and a lomenica shelter, usually resting on beams. The end of the wall is either arched or triangular, and the canopies are covered with lintels. Blue scale tiles also cover the arch or gable of the rear wall adjoining the cottage roof with a lomenica. The roof is supported by two columns with brackets. These wooden columns in the stone plinth have polychromy in red, yellow, blue and green, also the lomenica. If the picture wall is terminated by an arch, the stone cross on the roof of the cottage is protected by an Art Nouveau curved plate. The triangular gable is topped with a cross. The roof is lower, spread over three bays, the central one being higher and projecting. The floor of the chapels is of stone steps, and there is a kneeler in front of the image. The painting decoration was entrusted to Jozko, who also designed the first glass mosaics of the Passion scenes. B. Škarda from Brno. Later on, J. Köhler continued the colourful ceramic mosaics.
Source: www.hostyn.cz
Lookout tower, Svatý Hostýn
- Svatý Hostýn 115, 76861 Chvalčov
- www.hostyn.cz
- matice@hostyn.cz
- +420 573 381 693
Lookout tower on Svatý Hostýn
There is a beautiful view of Bystřice pod Hostýnem, Svatý Kopeček near Olomouc, Jeseníky, Zlín, Hranice na Moravě and in very good conditions you can also see Pálava or the Slovak Tatras from the stone lookout tower of Emperor Franz Joseph I. on the Hostýn hill (735 m above sea level). There is not only the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary at the pilgrimage site of Moravian Hostýn (735 m above sea level), but also the Lookout Tower of Emperor Franz Joseph I, with the Chapel of the Holy Cross on the ground floor. The lookout tower was built in 1897-98, when Emperor Franz Joseph I visited Bystřice pod Hostýnem. It was opened on 14 September 1898 and this event had to be without much glory, the country was just after the death of the monarch’s wife Elizabeth.
Originally the tower was up to 27 metres high, but in 1915 it was lowered for safety reasons. The present height of the tower is 15 metres. The observation deck, which is 12 metres high, is reached by 63 steps.
The tower’s ground plan consists of two unevenly sized circles of masonry made of hard Hostýn stone. The larger one has a diameter of about seven metres, the smaller one about three metres. The thickness of the masonry is 70 cm to one metre. The entrance to the lookout tower is on the north side, where there is a spiral iron staircase leading to the room of the first Hostýn museum and then to the observation deck with a telescope at a height of 12 metres.
There is a chapel of the Holy Cross below the lookout tower on the ground floor. The entrance from the south side is formed by a hand-forged iron door, which is the work of the artistic blacksmith Mr. Skřehota from Bystřice pod Hostýnem. There is an altar opposite the door and above it a sandstone statue of Our Lady of Sorrows and a marble cross. It was made by master Ferdinand Neumann from Kroměříž and installed on 22 June 1898. The round windows were decorated with a glass sculpture by B. Škarda from Brno.
Source: www.kudyznudy.cz
Where to eat and sleep?
Restaurants and accommodation along the trail.
Pilgrim Houses
- Svatý Hostýn 115, 76861 Chvalčov
- www.hostyn.cz
- matice@hostyn.cz
- +420 573 381 693
Restaurant Pilgrim House No. 2
- Svatý Hostýn 115, 76872 Chvalčov
- www.sanitraklm.cz
- sanitrak.lm@centrum.cz
- +420 608 381 134
Restaurant Pilgrim House No. 3
- Svatý Hostýn 115, Bystřice pod Hostýnem
- svaty-hostyn-115-poutni-dum-c3.business.site
- +420 732 199 518
Pension Ovčárna
- Svatý Hostýn 111 768 72 Chvalčov
- hostyn-ovcarna.cz
- penzion@hostyn-ovcarna.cz
- +420 730 964 173
Refreshment room and hermitage Maruška
- Stand No. 40, At the Water Chapel, Svatý Hostýn, 768 72 Chvalčov
- www.chaloupkamaruska.cz
- poustevna@chaloupkamaruska.cz
- +420 602 531 517
Photogallery
Photos from hiking.
Why walk the trails of the Cyril and Methodius Route?
The long-distance trails of the Cyril and Methodius Route invite you to pilgrimage sites and archaeological sites that have contributed significantly to the development of Slavic culture. They are signposted in both directions and encourage wandering without borders, not only state borders.
- Experience: you'll be surprised what you can do
- Great signposting: tourist signposting
- Incredible landscape: we wander through the countryside off the busy stretches
What can be obtained?
Perhaps everyone likes to bring back something from hiking, be it various tourist and souvenir items. If you will be hiking the Cyril and Methodius Route, we have prepared the following printed materials to motivate you to hike the trail:
- Pilgrimage passports: collecting stamps for a special passport
- Memorial letters: a souvenir letter at the end of the journey
- Maps: printed guide