G. Michael Vasey's Blog: The Wacky World of Dr. Vasey, page 13

Mother Earth is the Boss and Don’t You Forget it!

Sometimes I have to say what is on my mind and this is one of those times. Increasingly, we live in an era where the media is biased and it seems most people just read headlines to get their news. Despite the massive complexities of almost any topic you’d care to mention from inoculation to climate change, everyone feels as if they should hold an opinion and believes their opinion to be right. Debate has degraded to insult slinging in many parts of social media and indeed, the media in general. In my humble opinion, we are seeing the decline of humanity right now and its saddening to see when we had come so far in recent decades.

One area that increasingly concerns me is environmentalism. For me, looking after the environment is the same as keeping my room tidy – it is a personal responsibility. Today, I meet all kinds of people who hold the most bizarre and one-sided views of environmentalism I have heard – things like humanity is a virus and should be exterminated all the way through to an idea that forest fires, hurricanes, storms and so on are man-made disasters inflicted on the planet by said virus. I’m sorry but what on earth (no pun intended) are they thinking these people?

 

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Mother nature has always been a two-sided thing and depending on what and where you are, you may disagree about which side is best. As a geologist, when Mother Earth or Nature is portrayed as some sort of helpless three-legged kitten left to starve by its (human) owners, I have to respond. We are talking here of Nature right? The inventor of Tyrannosaurus Rex, flesh eating bacteria, radiation, volcanic eruptions, brain eating amoebae and many more horrors. Mother Nature isn’t just the pretty forest or flowers, it truly is waterspouts, sharks, flying cockroaches, tidal waves and all of that too. And you know what? Mother Nature or Mother earth is capable of looking after herself thank you! All you need to do is look at the geological record. Millions, if not billions, of species made extinct – I mean what did the Trilobites do to anyone to deserve annihilation?

It seems to me that if you believe in the One Thing – if you believe everything is connected – then logically, when Mother Earth tires of us as a species, it will kill us mercilessly just like it has done to countless other species in the past and replace us with something hopefully better. It would also suggest that what mankind does, is often in line or accounted for by the planet. I can make and back up an argument that man saved the planet by emitting CO2 – I know many people have firm opinions on CO2 as they read about it on CNN or Facebook and at this point will think I’m on a rant again…. but think this through. Until the industrial revolution, CO2 levels were declining rapidly to the point at which plant life suffocates. Had it got there, this would now be a dead planet. A rock in space.

The last time CO2 reached such critical minimum levels, Mother Earth responded and boy – (or maybe Girl), did she respond. As CO2 levels approached minimum critical levels, huge volcanoes appeared and erupted spewing recycled CO2 and other gases into the atmosphere. While this event replenished atmospheric CO2, it killed off 80% of living things on the planet. One can imagine that the drop in CO2 meant that animals that used CO2 to grow shells struggled to live, plants died or struggled so it would be like a huge famine and then – massive explosive volcanic activity spewing noxious fumes and blocking out the light… This was some event and it was rapid – the exctinctions all occurred in the blink of an eye geologically speaking. This was Mother Earth at work – doing what She needed to do to keep it all going.

 

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People talk about the planet as some sort of fairy godmother … all nice, lovely and kind. Wrong! Just like the Tree of Life, Geburah is also needed, wanted and required.

Back to those forest fires. Yes, it’s a catastrophe I do not deny that, but this is and always has been Mother Earth’s way of renewing. Massive forest fires are recorded throughout the geological record . They are not new, in fact, they are common and they are certainly not the result of us being here. They are natural, needed and wanted.

There is no crisis. There is no emergency.

In environmental campaigns we are asked to look after Mother Earth. Well of course, we should but honestly, I suspect we should rather ask Mother Earth to look after us. Mother Nature will do just fine and deal with us accordingly when it decides we are no longer useful. Be grateful you have life and existence on this planet.

Treat it well – don’t litter, don’t over consume things you do not need. But Mother Earth is bigger, more powerful and more intelligent than we are – indeed, we are just a small part of Mother Earth ourselves and we deserve the same respect the planet does so stop dissing humanity as in reality if you diss us, you diss the planet and the the powers that be.

My activities over the past few years and increasingly recently, have convinced me that the Earth is a living being. I have felt it’s heartbeat. I have worshipped the Goddess and had the response. My friends have been led to the most amazing things by birds. It sounds ridiculous, I do know that, but I also know it is true. What we have lost as a species, and eventually this will get us wiped out I suspect, is our spiritual connection to the Earth and the Goddess. The divine Feminine. We need to try to reconnect to this in all of its forms and to do that, we need to look, listen and observe. The whole time you are consuming those mind manipulating headlines and panicking in fear, you cannot begin to connect to our Mother. I suspect it’s deliberate but that’s another post.

 

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Discovering Templštejn

A prior trip to discover Templštejn ended with the realization that I had somehow taken a wrong direction – at least for a car – yet the end of that journey was a beautiful gorge in the Jihlava valley – well worth seeing. As we left Řeznovice, I determined to try a different route – one that took us into the village of Jamolice. Jamolice was where the original Templar commanderie was set up in Moravia according to the history books and the small village still proudly carries the memory of that in its coat of arms.

 

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Jamolice coat of arms

 

Jamolice is a small village that essentially hugs the sides of the road passing through it. Once inside the village, we saw a sign pointing ahead to Templštejn but we drove right through the village without seeing another. I was a bit confused as I thought the entrance was in the village but around 1km outside of Jamolice, we found a second sign and pulled off the road and parked. According to my phone GPS, we had a bit of a hike ahead and the day was cold – below zero – and windy, so we wrapped up warmly and set off – my new dowsing rids in hand. After around 2 km, the pathway began to descend gently into the forest and towards the river valley below. The wind was howling and as it ripped through the tree tops. It seemed to me as if the forest sang a song of rustling leaves and swaying boughs and I remarked to my companion on it recalling a day in Prague when the Goddess seemed very present via the wind in the trees. I thought perhaps she was talking again?

 

 

After a short and gentle descent, we saw it finally, We had reached Templštejn! The peace, stillness, and quietness of this place contrasted to the howls of the wind whipping through tree tops we had experienced earlier. I thought the quiet somewhat strange actually – perhaps magical even. The first thing to see is a huge thick wall – possibly 2+m thick – made of the local Gneiss – a whiteish looking rock when weathered. Behind the wall lay the ruins of the castle complex.

 

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Huge walls of the Castle

 

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The ruins were sold off by the Czech forestry a few years ago at auction and are now owned by a private individual who, along with volunteer groups, is slowly trying to reverse the decay at the site. It is free to visit and you can see that some work has been done to preserve what is left of the site. He has also put up a website – which features a lot of articles, news, legends and so about the castle and though in Czech, it can be translated by Google if you set up automatic translation in the browser.

I was pretty excited to be honest and we climbed up the huge wall that we had first seen via a wooden structure erected for the purpose but which looked a bit flimsy and care was needed to ascend and descend safely. The views from the top were magnificent looking down into the Jihlava valley and I could see the gorge I had found with my daughter a week or so ago. There was also a camp down below – a tradition for kids in the summer is to go away to camps – and this was one of those camps.

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Looking down into the Jihlava valley, gorge and camp.

After that we walked around the ruins, exploring as best we could and I definitely found an energy line passing through the corner of the site that I could pick up on both sides of the castle as well as inside it. I didn’t feel any particular atmosphere but the quiet was eerie I thought.

We discovered the well – which is very deep and safely covered with a sturdy steel framework to make it safe. I tossed a coin down it with a wish and it took quite a while before I heard the gentle clack of the coin hitting rock. I took lots of photos too of course.

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The well

A brief history of the castle is as follows – The first mention of the Templars is in Jamolice in 1297 and the castle at Templštejn was founded between 1281 and 1298. In 1312, the order was abolished and the castle was bought by one Bertold Prikner who later sold it to Přibík of Šelmberk in 1349. By 1379, it was owned by the Lords of Lipa who expanded and rebuilt it. In 1482, the castle became the seat of Ososky of Doubravice, but the castle was later again taken by the Lords of Lipa. The estate was confiscated after 1620 when the Lipa heir took part in some unsuccessful uprisings and was abandoned after a fire shortly after. In reality then, the castle was only held by the Templars for a short period.

 

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Plan of castle – the energy line I detected ran through points 1 and 2 and I found it on both sides of the castle.

 

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According to the official website, there are lots of interesting legends and rumors about the place including hidden treasures (in the well), tunnels, ghostly knights and so on. In reality, the castle was probably occupied by older Templar’s whose fighting days were done and who were tasked with administration of the estate. One interesting legend involves the old Templars being called upon to help defend the area and sending a young page instead all dressed up as one of the order. In short, when this young page arrived, his horse bolted and he charged the battle scene inadvertently. The enemy thinking a Templar force had arrived quickly dispersed and victory was had. The page returned to the Templar fortress and was rewarded with a grant of land.

No archeological work has been done apparently but some finds are stored in a museum nearby that one day I will go and visit.

Walking away from the castle, for me the sounds of the wind and birds came back as we reached the top of the valley and left the silence and peace of Templštejn until the next time.

 

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Last night, I plotted the Castle, the church at Řeznovice and the convent Rosa Coeli at Dolni Kounice on google maps and discovered…. they lie on a straight line. I’m not surprised and I do think that somehow they are linked to each other in terms of their siting and original use.

 

 

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The Mysterious Řeznovice Church of St. Peter and St. Paul

This weekend, I was able to visit several sites around Brno. The first was the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Řeznovice that I had noticed passing by on a recce trip to the Templstejn area in the Jihlava valley south of Brno. I stopped at the church because it simply doesn’t look like a Czech church. Pulling up to the church this time, I was again struck by how different the church is to the average church in the region. Excitedly, I rushed up to the door only to be disappointed by the fact it was locked. Oh well, at least I could look around the outside of it I thought when a woman’s head popped around the back of the church and said “Je to otevrene” (It is open!). It seems the entrance was actually around the corner!

 

 

 

Once inside, I began an exploration of the church. Czech churches generally are fairly modern inside having been rebuilt at some point in the recent past and some work had taken place here – so no green men or that kind of thing peering at you unfortunately, but plenty of mystery. To be honest, I did not detect any unusual energies in the church but it was certainly intriguing. The visit was a little rushed as the woman was cleaning and preparing the church for a service it seemed. A man was vacuuming while the woman was preparing the seating. I was told the church would be closed when they were done and I asked for ‘5 minutes’. They smiled and said ‘no problem.’ The church must be visited a lot as when I signed the visitor’s book, we skimmed through the many entries from people from all around the world.

 

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St. Peter and St. Paul – Reznovice

The church is really very different and is celebrated as the only example of a romanesque church in Moravia. There are a couple of other examples in and around Prague it seems. Part of the church was demolished in the 16th Century to add a new rectangular nave according to archeological investigations. The central part of the church consists of a square nave with a 5.16 meter long planar edge with three apses. The octagonal tower formation, topped by a pyramid, rises above this part of the church. Strangely, the floor is said to have been made 70 cm higher than it was originally and the church at one time was a two story structure!

 

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From what I can discover – and I am sure I will get better information over time, the court of a nobleman was established there in the 12th Century and the Church was a part of the construction. No one though seems quite sure of its origins which are shrouded in the mystery of time but it may have been founded as early as the early 1100’s. The castle or court in Řeznovice was first mentioned in 1373 when it was owned by one Bohuslav of Víckov. It was destroyed during the Czech-Hungarian wars and in its place was built first a yard and then the rectory of the church.

It seems that a nearby hill fort known as Rokytná came to some sort of grief and the nobleman set up in Řeznovice instead and the church was a private chapel for the nobleman. When the nobleman’s line came to an end, the structures changed hands several times and in 1259 it belonged to the Oslavany monastery and later probably to the Templar comanderie in Jamolice and Templstejn. After 1312, it was acquired by the Lords of Lipá, who granted it as a fief. From 1538, it belonged to the Oslavany family, was abandoned in the 30-years war and 1784 became a parish.

In the 14th Century, a religious text was written into the northern apse and paintings added around the middle of the 16th century. Some of the paintings remain and these were rediscovered in 1947 when the church was reworked and are said to represent St. Andrew and John the Evangelist. Above them are half-figures of angels with inscription strips, and part of the mandorla belongs to a missing figure of Christ. In the lower part of the southern apse is a six-line inscription made on a stone. In one of the side altars that was demolished in 1791, it is said that evidence was found attesting to the consecration of the church on 26 October 1483 in honor of St. Peter, Paul and Andrew.

 

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St. Andrew?

 

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John?

 

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Top of the remaining fresco

Inside, there are figurative tombstones of Markéta Hadburková of Žarošice (+1584) and Kateřina, daughter of Petr Ried (+1584) and heraldic tombstones of Hrubý stonemason Petr Ried (+ 1575) and Ctibor Hostakovský of Arklebice (+ 1603). There is also an interesting stone bearing Kuman inscriptions (Kumans were a nomadic Turkic people) from the early 14th century. The inscription was not deciphered until 1952 by Prague orientalist dr. Pavel Poucha. It is a font similar to Uighur and mentions Marqusz – it is a name on the tombstone of a Kuman warrior who died in Hungarian service. There is also another stone bearing a Templar cross. Both of the latter certainly caught my attention and during later googling, threw up some interesting mysteries as follows.

 

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Tombstone

 

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Tombstone detail

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the  nearby town of Ivančice was apparently burned down the troops of Duke Albrecht I of Habsburg. His auxiliary troops were largely composed of the Kumans, a Turkish nomadic ethnicity. The Kumans originated from an area that gradually extended from the Black Sea to the borders of present-day Mongolia. However, Tartar and Mongolian expansion eventually pushed them deeper into the center of Europe. Here a certain proportion of the Kuman population found a new home in the territory of Hungary, where it subsequently adopted Christianity and became part of the Hungarian nation. Dr. Poucha deciphered the inscription on the stone as “MARQUSZ”,  which corresponds to the Christian name Markus, or Mark. The stone may be a fragment of a tombstone of a Kuman that was buried there. However, why was the traditional script used?

 

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The mysterious Kuman stone

But the mystery deepens as on the outskirts of Ivančice, there is said to be a small hill, still called Kumán. According to legend, it is a burial mound, built by the Kumans above the grave of their late chief. The story is reminiscent of the legend of the last resting place of the legendary Atilla the hun and a golden treasure of immense value. In the first half of the 20th century, amateur archaeological surveys were conducted here, but they did not support the theory as the base of the hill seems to be made of natural rock.

Interestingly, the name of the village is also translated in German to Regensberg and the church is also often associated with Regensburg, in Germany and with the Romanesque Chapel of All Saints there. Perhaps the link is that the builders of the Regensburg church came to build this one too? Some have remarked on the similarity of the Kuman stone to old Germanic runes and the stone has eight and a half identifiable characters. We can know that it is not a forgery as the famed Bohuslav Balbín in his Epitomae of 1677, speaks of a “church that is paved with tombstones of the Kumans.” While he doesn’t mention the exact location of the church, its location is given between Ivančice and Oslavany near Brno, and must surely be this church.  So, germanic runes or Kuman text? Who knows!

Next to the Kumán stone, is a stone marked with a Templar cross. The Templars first founded a commandery in nearby Jamolice and later moved it to a more strategic headland watching over the Jihlava River – Templštejn. The ruins of the castle are also surrounded by many legends one of which tells of a secret underground passage from Templštejn to the church and in some legends, a castle near Brno many miles away.  According to some sources, the grave of the last Templštejn Commander may be hidden by the church.

 

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Templar Cross

The bell tower contains three bells once of which dates back to 1483 – though it is no longer rung as two newer bells were added in the 1950’s. Until 1793 there was a cemetery around the church . Next to the church is a Rococo cross from the 18th century.

The church can also be purchased as a paper model I discovered!

For me, exploring the land in an esoteric fashion often brings with it remarkable coincidences and events. These little magical happenings are often of great import to the person experiencing them but may seem less than magical to an outsider. In each of these blogs, I will finish by mentioning such instances and let you be the judge.

On this trip, I was accompanied by my rather bemused girlfriend who, while enjoying the history and the trip was always a bit suspicious of the underlying intent. Strange then that the first visit should be to a Czech church with a Hungarian mystery as my girlfriend is Hungarian and lives in Budapest! The second little bit of magic was the connection of this remarkable church to the Templars as we will see, the Templars were a major feature of the weekend trip.

 

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Chapel Interior

 

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Living Under the Castle

Right now, I am renting a nice apartment just outside of the city center literally on the side of the hill that is topped by Spilberk Castle. The Castle is set atop its own grounds and I often walk alone or with my daughter’s dog around the castle in meditation. Despite trying to research this geological and topographical feature, I have found little beyond the standard blurb about the Castle.

The castle was founded around the mid-13th century on a low (290 m), but relatively steep rocky hill, towering just above the historic city center (about 220 m). His master builder, Czech King Přemysl Otakar II, was generously conceived not only as a solid support of the ruling power, but also as a dignified seat of the rulers of Moravia.

The oldest written records of the existence of the castle relate to the years 1277 to 1279, which gradually remind the castle chapel, holding a parliament in its premises (January 1278) and finally the name of the hill, soon transferred to the castle itself.

However, the Czech rulers visited Špilberk only occasionally, which was true of the young Moravian margrave and later the Czech King Charles, whose first wife Blanka stayed here in 1337 after the forced departure from Prague.

Špilberk became a real settlement castle of the Moravian margraves only from the middle of the 14th century during the reign of Jan Jindřich (1350-1375) and his son Jošt (1375-1411). This period of only six decades of autonomous rule of the “Moravian” Luxemburgs, brother and nephew of Charles IV, is undoubtedly the most important and the most splendid, though little-known chapter in the history of Brno Castle. But after Jost’s death, during the last Luxembourg, Hungarian, Roman and later Czech King Sigismund and his son-in-law Albrecht of Austria, whom Sigismund in 1423 with the rule of Moravia and Špilberk castle, this castle has permanently lost its residential function and its military significance comes to the fore. He was fully manifested not only during the Hussite wars, but especially during the fighting between the Czech King George of Podebrady and Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus.

In 1469, however, Matthias Corvinus, supported by the city of Brno, after several months of siege managed to force the exhausted Czech garrison at Špilberk to leave under honest conditions and thus gain this important strategic point and subsequently the government in Moravia.

From the end of the 15th century not only the former importance of Špilberk declined significantly, but also its versatile decline and gradual deterioration. The leading royal castle in Moravia was rebuilt and the temporary holders did not care much about its maintenance. However, the Moravian Estates were well aware of the importance of the castle for the whole country and its capital, when in 1543 they stated that “the loss of this castle to the Czech and Moravian land would be bad, and especially the city of Brno would be destroyed”. In 1560, in order to prevent its intended sale into foreign hands, they preferred to buy Špilberk themselves (the “St Markgraviate”) and the whole estate themselves and then sold their own castle to the city of Brno. Špilberk remained in the ownership of the town for only sixty years – after the White Mountain defeat of the Estates Rebellion in 1620 he was Emperor Ferdinand II.

During the Thirty Years’ War, however, the castle fell into disrepair again, and even a relatively small military garrison of around 40 men did not suggest that Špilberk could play a more important military role.

However, everything changed with the partial military occupation of Moravia by the Swedish army and with two immediate threats to the Moravian metropolis in 1643-1645. The fortifications of the castle and the town were quickly repaired and improved. When, in 1645, Brno and Špilberk, under the command of Colonel Raduit de Souches, withstood the three-month conquest by a multiple Swedish superiority, the strategic importance of this castle proved again.

It was then – until the middle of the 18th century – rebuilt into the most powerful and also the most important Baroque fortress in Moravia, forming as a citadel with a fortified town one fortification system, which in 1742 became an insurmountable obstacle for the King of Prussia Frederick II. Špilberk military commanders also held the position of commanding generals in Moravia.

In 1783 the emperor Joseph II. on the conversion of the abolished fortified prison at Špilberk into a civilian prison for the most serious criminals. For imprisonment, the underused part of the local fortification system – casemates – was determined and modified. More than 200 prisoners used for heavy work on and off the fortress could be housed in their bulk cells. Since the mid-1890s, however, prisoners who can be described as political have begun to appear in the above-ground premises of the Spilberk fortress. In addition to several major French revolutionaries captured during the coalition wars with France – the best known of them was former postmaster Jean B. Drouet – it was above all a 15-member group of the so-called Hungarian Jacobins, led by writer Ferenc Kazinczy. More than a quarter of a century later (since.

The poet Silvio Pellico, who had been here involuntarily for eight full years, then made the Spilberg prison all over Europe famous for his book “My Dungeons”.

By this time, Špilberk had ceased to be a significant military fortress, and from the imperial decision remained only a large civilian prison. This change was mainly caused by the French army of Emperor Napoleon, who, when leaving the occupied Brno in the autumn of 1809 destroyed some important parts of the Spilbers fortifications. The last large “national” group of political prisoners in Špilberk was represented by almost 200 Polish revolutionaries, in particular the participants of the so-called Krakow Uprising of 1846. In 1855 Emperor Franz Joseph I abolished Spilberg prison and after the last prisoners left three years later military barracks, which they stayed for another hundred years.

Twice, however, Špilberk re-entered the general awareness as a place of suffering and freedom. For the first time in the years of the First World War, when in addition to the guilty soldiers were also imprisoned civilian opponents of the Austrian regime, the second and much more markedly in the first year of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. At that time several thousand Czech patriots suffered in the Špilbers’ walls, some of them found death here. For most, however, Špilberk was only a transfer station to other German prisons or concentration camps. In 1939-1941, the German army made extensive adjustments to Špilberk to create a model barracks in the romantic-historicizing spirit of the then Great German ideology.

In 1959 Špilberk left the Czechoslovak army and finally ended its military era. The following year, Špilberk became the seat of the Brno City Museum.

Source – Castle website

Such a hill must have a longer history but I have yet to find it…… There is a second hill in Brno which is occupied by the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and its twin spires. The castle and the church gives the city skyline a unique look.

The Castle grounds are surrounded by many pathways leading up and down and around the structure. The views of the surrounding city are also quite stunning.

 

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A view of Spilberk Castle.

 

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Spilberk Castle

 

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Pathway on Spilberk Castle

 

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Waterfall and pond beside Spilberk Castle

 

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Another view of the Castle

 

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View of Brno

 

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Spilberk Castle

 

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St. Peter and St. Paul’s through the trees

 

In early summer, I will be moving to my own new apartment out in Brno Bohunice. There will be no such views or walks nearby (at least that I am currently aware of) so I must make the most of this magnificent landscape while I am able. It will be replaced by a view of a communist era high-rise housing estate unfortunately! (It’s still a nice location though I hasten to add).

It seems to me that such a hill as the one the castle sits atop of must have been a place of fortresses and habitation long before the 1100’s though, as yet, I have found no evidence to indicate that it was. I will keep searching.

One thing I do know is that the Castle was often used as a prison. During the communist era, one unfortunate prisoner here was the Czech magician Frantisek Bardon. Bardon in fact, died in imprisonment in the castle……He is buried in his home town of Opava and a couple of year’s ago, I visited his grave and place of birth.

 

 

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Reading the Land

The weather is beautiful – OK, it’s freezing but it’s beautiful. I’m chomping at the bit to go out and do some exploring – as Sue (Vincent) always says – I want to go out and play! However, my 12-year old daughter is engaged in learning new methods to solve Rubix cubes and isn’t at all thrilled about the idea of tromping around the Czech countryside looking for energies, wells and stones…. I seem to remember feeling much the same back in the day when I was that age a few centuries ago and my Dad was trying to get me to go find the ‘old roman road’ or similar.

My Dad was an explorer of the land. He knew the Wolds and broader area like the back of his hand by virtue of a service engineering job that was really barely part-time at times and allowed him lots of free time to explore – or play. It was he who got me interested in geology and archeology. It was he who taught me that an inquisitive mind is a good thing to have. Wherever we went, he knew about the area – where to go, what to look at and looking for roman roads was one of his favorite hobbies. He also made dowsing rods and I remember how amazing they were to use. We played games of hide and seek with them – my Dad would hide a coin and then I would seek it out with the rods….. So, I got good training.

 

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It’s funny really as I have been here 13-years. I have always liked being outdoors and have explored the country quite a bit. My favorite parts are north of Prague in what is called Cesky Raj or Czech Paradise. Here, the geology and weathering has created a fantasy world of standing sandstone rocks that is amazing to visit. In fact, now I think of it, what I am doing isn’t really new. I have been exploring and playing this last few years. A quick review of my blog here shows that. I have even had some mystical experiences here. I feel the Goddess strongly here in the forests and between the rocks. Yet, I feel like I never connected with the land here. I am alien. When I go back to the UK, I connect with the land – I can feel it. Here, I cannot gain that connection – or can I? Perhaps, I simply need to open up and attune to this country? After all, it is a beautiful and mystical place full of legends, dragons and myths.

 

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The Czech Forest…

So in 2020, this will be my objective. To get to know the land here. To attune with it and read it. My dowsing rods, google and my intuition will be my weapons or playthings. I have already started and I feel an excitement I haven’t felt in a long time…. I look out of my window and I want to get out there – I do. Something awaits me.

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Wait! Did Someone Actually Purchase a Copy of my new Poetry Book?

When I put out poetry books, I don’t actually expect to sell any. I think I have sold around 10 copies total since 2007 when my first poetry was published of the 6 or so collections I have put out! No, I publish and then buy a few author copies to give away as gifts….

Today, I checked my sales on Amazon for the last few days and to my utter amazement, I have sold 2 – yes TWO kindle copies of my most recent collection. What on earth is happening???? I have yet to order my paperbacks – thought I would wait until after the holidays you see….

Anyway, the volume – Reflections on Life – is available in paperback and Kindle formats……

 

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Rainbows and Rosa Coeli

What to do on Boxing Day? Take a trip to Dolní Kounice to see the Convent ruins of Rosa Coeli and feel the energies there? Yes! It wouldn’t be open I knew but we could still take a peek so off we went to the Jihlava valley south of Brno to visit the Rosa Ceoli Convent.

 

 

It was a beautiful but very cold day when we arrived. The Convent was closed and won’t be open it seems until April which was not unexpected but a tad disappointing. The Convent ruins are remarkably intact and you can pretty much walk around the outside of it – which is what we did – detecting some energies in one direction that will be investigated further another day. The convent stands under the castle and by the shore of the Jihlava river and an old mill.

 

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Coat of Arms – Rosa Coeli

 

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Entrance Rosa Coeli

 

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I have extracted some information about the convent and had it google translated at the bottom of the post.

With the Convent being closed, we walked through the village and towards the white chapel of St. Anthony on the hill top over the other side of the river that had caught my attention last time. As we reached the marked footpath to the top of the hill, the first station of the cross emerged in somebodies back yard!

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After a while, the climb became quite steep and windy with gusts of a cold wind howling across the hill. Periodically, there was another station of the cross to examine.

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Reaching the top, there are stunning views of the town, the river valley and Rosa Coeli below.

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The church as expected, was locked but it is a rather recent building it seems dating from around 1750. The original wooden chapel dates back just another 100 years according to information on the site. It is only opened for the annual pilgrimage in June. I suspect an older presence on that hill but so far, cannot find any documented evidence of it.

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The hilltop is a beautiful peaceful place high above the hub hub of the town below and I can well imagine that it has been a place of meditation and worship for many centuries. The wind truly whipped around us with intermittent rain and sleet even though the skies were blue in some areas. I had a feeling that the afternoon was one for rainbows and we kept looking to see if we could see any – facing away from the sun. However, it wasn’t until we had descended and walked back to the car that we were rewarded with a magnificent vision of a full double rainbow over the hilltop chapel. Somehow, I had expected this – seeing it in my mind on the hilltop – and, I took it as a sign that the afternoon was well spent.

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Chapel of St. Anthony – taken from site website and translated by Google

Chapel of st. Antonín as a wooden building was built in 1654. One hundred years later it was replaced by a brick building, because it was not enough for a large number of pilgrims. The cost of the construction was paid by Prince Charles Maxmilián of Dietrichstein. The chapel was built by the Brno architect František Antonín Grimm, who lived between 1710 and 1784. This Baroque builder and architect designed, for example, the Zábrdovice chateau and the chateau in Napajedla. He is buried with his father in the Capuchin tomb in Brno. According to his project, a chateau in Kupařovice was also built. He was the court builder of the princes of Dietrichstein at the time. The chapel building has a large domed dome and three entrances – the main and two side.

As stated in the Deed of Foundation of 30 April 1654, its construction was initiated by the Lower-Bohemian citizens in honor of the patrons of St. Antonín Padovánského and st. Florian… “to intercede for the people who suffer from various fires and floods every year”. The surrounding villages Pravlov, Němčičky, Kupařovice, Malešovice, Odrovice and others from the Kounice princely estate contributed to the construction.

Chapels – individual stops of the Stations of the Cross – were built sometime in the early 19th century. In 1899, cast-iron sculptures, each weighing fifty kilograms, were taken from Blansko to individual stops. Originally there were pictures of the old Stations of the Cross from the church by the river, which was demolished after the flood in 1862. The old paintings from the stop went unknown where.

In 1948 the chapel, damaged by war events, was repaired. Another overhaul began in 2013. Work began with cutting trees and since July, the main work on the roof. The reconstruction of the chapel continued in 2015 with the reconstruction of the facade.

The traditional pilgrimage to St. Anthony takes place every year in June. The chapel is owned by the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Rosa Coeli Convent History taken from site website and translated by Google

In 1181 Vilém of Kounice invited Gotšalka, abbot in the Želiv Monastery, who had considerable experience in building monasteries. They advised on the construction of the future monastery in Kounice and together they probably chose a place for future construction. They were chosen in such a way that it would remain hidden from the sight of those coming from the South Moravian plain and hidden in the river’s bend to the south by a hill where a huge castle was later built.

Two years later the monastery was built. It was most likely only the wooden buildings of the convent and the oratory, which were taken as temporary. Stone buildings usually started much later. To this day, extensive remains of a Romanesque stone church have been preserved in the peripheral masonry of the western and northern cloisters.

In October 1183 it was occupied by nuns from the Louňovice monastery in Bohemia. The data are historically substantiated, so they are the first real evidence of the existence of Dolní Kounice. Although it is not mentioned anywhere in the name of Rosa coeli and this name appears in the 15th century, it is clear that the monastery was consecrated to the Virgin Mary from the beginning. The Church also calls the Virgin Mary “Rose of Heaven” – in Latin Rosa coeli.

Monastery around 1400

In the 14th century the monastery complex was significantly rebuilt. The Romanesque basilica was replaced by a much larger Gothic church, with a new cloister in the north. It is a preserved ruin with exposed masonry, on which it is possible to follow the progress of construction relatively well and thus determine its relative chronology.

After the death of the Provost Count John VI. from Althan in 1517 Martin Göschel joined. This ambitious priest converted to the Lutheran faith in 1521 and even took one of the Kounice nuns as his wife, believing that the time was good enough for him to achieve his great goals. According to his model, the other nuns were supposed to lead a life of allegation. All of this resulted in the suspension of the Bishop of Olomouc and King Louis of Jagiellon issued an expulsion order, but Göschel ignored it and remained in the monastery until 1526. All of this resulted in the growing anger of the subjects of the monastery. Meanwhile, Ferdinand I of Habsburg, who many believed to be tolerant of non-Catholic churches and who would more easily break through with him, joined the Czech throne. So did Göschel, who, after retiring to the Baptists in Mikulov, was called by Ferdinand to Prague. Göschel came here, but the ruler had him imprisoned, interrogated by the suffering and only his intercession was saved by the intercession of some nobility, who had not been burned alive, but was handed over to the intercession by the Olomouc bishop Stanislav Pavlovský. He had Göschla imprisoned again and finally Göschel dies in prison.

Meanwhile, the other eleven nuns chose John as the new provost, but the scandalous life he had led in the monastery led the surrounding population to assault the monastery. The nuns ran across the kingdom and the temple was partly devastated and dishonored. After the nuns escaped, the whole property was taken over by the Moravian provinces and they finally handed over the dominion to Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg, because it was actually a royal monastery. Ferdinand first temporarily stopped the estate to Queen Mary – widow of Louis Jagelon, then put into life for use by Trident Bishop Bernard and finally after the previous pledge on 3 October 1537 inherited the entire estate of the Vice-Chancellor of the Czech Kingdom, Mr. George Žabek of Limberk.

Monastery 1720

After several important aristocratic families, the estate passed in 1622 to the Dietrichstein family. Ferdinand of Dietrichstein sold the monastery grounds to the Strahov Monastery in 1698. Strahov decided to repair and roof the Kounice monastery. Among other modifications, the vault of the lower cloister of the wing cloister next to the church, a new wooden – thatched roof of the church, and a new monastery residential building were restored. However, on July 4, 1703, a huge fire broke out in the town, and from Růžová Street through a manor and sheepfold, where 600 sheep were burnt, it was transferred to a reconstructed monastery. The roof above the monastery temple, chapel, cloister and bedrooms for priests fell victim to this fire. The reconstruction of the monastery continued for another fifteen years, only the monastery temple remained unsheltered.

Despite gradual repairs, reports about the monastery in Kounice are mostly bleak. The building is ravaged by troops passing through the monastery building in their open parts due to rain and snow. From 1804 the monastery began to perish quickly and after discussion and with the approval of Strahov it was sold to Prince John of Dietrichstein and thus again attached to the Kounice estate. Since those years, the monastery has been exposed to climatic influences and people who used monastic buildings as a stone quarry. The manor officials handed out dozens of wagons of building stone, along with stone and bricks were also exported without any choice whole pieces of vault ribs, vault bolts and other carved stone elements, part of the monastery building. This situation lasted until approximately 1890, when the new owner of the manor,

Only after 1927 the devastation of the monastery was stopped and gradually the ruins began to be repaired and maintained. It was in this year that the chateau and the monastery passed into the ownership of the originally count administrator Emil Tomec. He transferred the church ruins to the administration of the newly formed “Committee for the Conservation of Monuments in Dolní Kounice”, which made this precious monument generally accessible, as the company provided guiding activities there. Thanks to the “Committee”, one year later, some works were not carried out, requiring no significant financial costs, as the funds were not available at the beginning. Thanks to all the works, the monument has been satisfactorily fixed for many years. The problem of ownership was problematic. After the extinction of the feudal estate, the castle and monastery buildings were acquired by the above-mentioned Count Emil Tomec. Jaromir Košťál. The building had been in their possession for almost the entire existence of the “Committee”, which of course could have invested little money and so concentrated on the monastery temple. After the Second World War, the so-called Auschwitz Discussion was established in 1952, which also became a member of the Regional History Circle of Auschwitz, the successor of the original Committee for the Conservation of Monuments.

Monastery today

In 1974 the monastery became the property of the Regional Institute of State Monument Care and Nature Protection in Brno, as a state monument of the 1st category. During this period the convent’s residential building was used to accommodate several families. The District National Committee Brno-venkov invested about 1, 6 million Kcs in repairs. In particular, the crown masonry was reinforced and grouted and roofs repaired. These works took place at the end of the 1980s and then led to a new ceremonial opening and opening of the monument to the public in 1990. In the new social system that occurred in the state after 1989, the restitution claim of the monument fell back to the Košťál family. The family donated it to the Episcopal Consistory in Brno. In cooperation with the Municipal Office in Dolní Kounice, it currently operates the monastery.

The history of the monastery according to the promotional material of the Town of Dolní Kounice, text by Miloš Dempír

The ruins of the Rosa Coeli Monastery are located in the Jihlava River Valley directly below the castle hill. The monastery is one of the most important Central European religious buildings of the High Gothic. Together with the castle forms a harmonious whole, unprecedented in our country. The massive masonry of the monastery church and the adjacent buildings will attract every visitor with his remarkable monumentality.

The beginnings of the monastery date back to the second half of the 12th century. At that time, the Lords of Kounice built a large dominion in South Moravia. Of these, Vilem said of Pulín participated in the power struggles between the Czech Prince Soběslav II. and the Austrian Duke Henry II. Jasomirgotem. When invading the Austrian country in 1175 troops Sobeslav II. She also plundered church buildings, for which Soběslav and his closest aides were put to the curse by the Pope. In an effort to get rid of the curse, William of Pulin went to Rome to the Pope and begged for forgiveness. The Pope gave him the task of building a monastery on his farms.

The construction of the monastery in Dolní Kounice began in 1181. Inexperienced Vilém asked the abbot Gotšalka from Želiv for help. The monastery was named Rosa coeli – Heavenly Rose and is the oldest female monastery in Moravia. Its founding is described in detail in his chronicle by the abbot of the monastery in Milevsko Jarloch.

The oldest form of the monastery cannot be reconstructed credibly today. From the preserved remains of the Romanesque masonry contained in the north and west wing of today’s cloister, it is possible to conclude that the church was most probably brick, but the other buildings were probably only wooden.

In 1185, Kounice was plundered by the army of the Czech prince Bedřich. The fire, which destroyed the whole village, but avoided the monastery. Then the economic development of the monastic estate slowly begins. In addition to the basic property that the monastery acquired from its founding by Vilém of Pulín, other villages were gradually added and the boundaries of the estate gradually expanded. The importance of the monastery increased even further in 1268, when Pope Clement IV took it under his patronage. In 1284, after the Knotice branch of Drnholec died out, the monastery in Dolní Kounice became a royal monastery. He was taken under his protection by the Czech King Wenceslas II, who also granted the local provost for Kounice the right of a weekly market. At that time the monastery was already on a high economic level that it could afford to build a solid Gothic castle for its protection on the hill above Kounice. After the construction of the castle, sometime before 1330, a spectacular costly reconstruction of the monastery buildings began. Due to the continuous construction activity, the monastery became indebted and the reconstruction was completed until 1370–1380. According to some opinions, the building stretched until after 1400. Of the original Romanesque buildings of the monastery, only small fragments have been preserved, most of it was built as a new building. The work was carried out in two phases. After the completion of the space, now known as the Chapter Hall, and the western walls of the present cloister, the plan was apparently changed. According to the new project, a church with a sacristy, a cloister and other parts of the monastic dwelling were built, but they have not been preserved. Due to the continuous construction activity, the monastery became indebted and the reconstruction was completed until 1370–1380. According to some opinions, the building stretched until after 1400. Of the original Romanesque buildings of the monastery, only small fragments have been preserved, most of it was built as a new building. The work was carried out in two phases. After the completion of the space, now known as the Chapter Hall, and the western walls of the present cloister, the plan was apparently changed. According to the new project, a church with a sacristy, a cloister and other parts of the monastic dwelling were built, but they have not been preserved. Due to the continuous construction activity, the monastery became indebted and the reconstruction was completed until 1370–1380. According to some opinions, the building stretched until after 1400. Of the original Romanesque buildings of the monastery, only small fragments have been preserved, most of it was built as a new building. The work was carried out in two phases. After the completion of the space, now known as the Chapter Hall, and the western walls of the present cloister, the plan was apparently changed. According to the new project, a church with a sacristy, a cloister and other parts of the monastic dwelling were built, but these have not been preserved. most of it was built as a new building. The work was carried out in two phases. After the completion of the space, now known as the Chapter Hall, and the western walls of the present cloister, the plan was apparently changed. According to the new project, a church with a sacristy, a cloister and other parts of the monastic dwelling were built, but these have not been preserved. most of it was built as a new building. The work was carried out in two phases. After the completion of the space, now known as the Chapter Hall, and the western walls of the present cloister, the plan was apparently changed. According to the new project, a church with a sacristy, a cloister and other parts of the monastic dwelling were built, but they have not been preserved.

After the reconstruction, the monastery gradually repaid all its debts and began to consolidate its power again. This period of prosperity was interrupted only by the Hussite wars. In 1423 the monastery was plundered and set on fire by the Hussite troops. After the fire, the vault was exposed over the temple, which collapsed due to weather conditions. The nave was then covered only by a beamed ceiling and the original vault was never restored. In 1434 the monastery had to be repaired because it could afford to buy more villages.

At the beginning of the 16th century, after the arrival of the new provost Martin Göschl, a great decline of the monastery occurred. Provost Göschl, who also had the rank of holy bishop of Olomouc, transferred to Lutheran religion and married one of the local nuns. As a result, the bishop of Olomouc suspended him, King Louis ordered him to be expelled, but Göschl remained in the monastery and demanded that the monastic estate be entered into his hands. Bishop Stanislav Pavlovský found that the life of nuns in the monastery in Dolní Kounice was “vicious and extremely offensive.” In 1526 Göschl fled to Mikulov to the Baptists, but then underwent torture in Prague and eventually died in the Olomouc prison. The remaining 11 nuns chose a new provost, priest John, but their persistent vicious life forced the surrounding population to assault the monastery. The nuns then ran across the kingdom and the temple was partly devastated and dishonored. In 1527, the Moravian Lands took over the abandoned monastery with the entire estate, which was then handed over to the Czech King Ferdinand I of Habsburg. Ferdinand first stopped the estate and in 1537 sold Jiří Žabek of Limberk. Jiří Žabka chose Dolní Kounice as his headquarters. He had the former monastic castle rebuilt costly and repaired the monastic temple in which he established a family tomb. However, under other owners of the estate, the monastery was gradually released. Jiří Žabka chose Dolní Kounice as his headquarters. He had the former monastic castle rebuilt costly and repaired the monastic temple in which he established a family tomb. However, under other owners of the estate, the monastery was gradually released. Jiří Žabka chose Dolní Kounice as his headquarters. He had the former monastic castle rebuilt costly and repaired the monastic temple in which he established a family tomb. However, under other owners of the estate, the monastery was gradually released.

Premonstratensians from the Strahov Monastery tried to restore the abandoned monastery. In 1698, after several years of complicated negotiations, the building was purchased from the then owner of the estate Ferdinand of Dietrichstein. Already in the following year they adapted the former chapter hall to the chapel and built a new baroque convent building towards the river. In the following years the cloister was renovated and the church was repaired. On the ground floor of the cloister, two collapsed vaulted fields were restored from bricks to mimic the original architecture. It is therefore one of the oldest manifestations of monument care in the Czech Republic. In 1703 the newly roofed church was consecrated again. That year, however, Dolní Kounice was engulfed in a huge fire that destroyed the restored monastery. After that, only the convent building was repaired, the church was left in ruins and ceremonies were held only in the chapel. Poor economic conditions did not allow for extensive repairs to the monastery, and so masses in the monastery chapel were eventually banned. Strahov Premonstratensians surrendered further attempts to restore and in 1808 sold the monastery and the church back to the Lower House. Since then, the buildings have finally turned into ruins.

It was not until 1895 that Count Josef Herberstein had the most urgent repairs carried out, with a temporary corridor and a chapter hall being fitted with a makeshift roof. Since 1926, the conservation and restoration work has been carried out in the monastery on the initiative of the Committee for the Conservation of Monuments in Dolní Kounice.

He is currently the owner of the monastery of the Roman Catholic bishopric in Brno. Historic buildings are used by the town of Dolní Kounice, which made the building accessible to the public. In recent years, the romantic environment of the restored monastery has become a venue for numerous cultural events and exhibitions.

The extensive complex of monastery buildings is partially surrounded by a medieval stone wall. The area is entered by a Gothic pointed gate through a former farmyard. The actual part of the monastery consists of the convent church of Our Lady preserved in the peripheral masonry, a cloister with a paradise court and an adjacent chapter hall. Residential buildings dominate these buildings towards the river, dominated by the Baroque building of the former convent.

The most massive building of the monastery is the church standing on the ground plan of the cross. From the outside, the church is supported by a system of supporting pillars. The main entrance to the church is located in the west facade of the longitudinal nave. Due to the vault of the choir from the inside it is shifted off the axis of the church. With its concept and sculptural design, the entrance portal is one of the unique works of this type in our country. The pointed arch of the portal is richly profiled in its slanted lining, its tympanum rests on consoles in the form of human heads carrying a tracery leaflet. On it is the relief of Christ blessing the right and left holding the book of life. The bottom trills of the tracery leaf are filled by the head of a man and a woman. The pointed arch of the portal is rounded off by an elevated triangular gable, into which the panel tracery of a triple leaf is embedded. The whole portal ends with a stone bouquet. A view of the nave of the church opens behind the entrance portal. Around halfway along the longitudinal axis, the nave is interrupted by a transverse ship. This is followed by a deep presbyterium closed by a triangular conclusion. In the entrance part of the temple is on the right side a small Gothic portal leading to the spiral staircase in the turret, which protrudes from the southern wall of the nave and is topped with a brick pyramid roof. Up the narrow stairs it is possible to ascend above the crowns of the monastery masonry, from where a magnificent view of the monastery complex and a view of the nearby castle and chateau opens. Although the interior of the church is now without vaults, it is not difficult to reconstruct the original appearance in the amount of preserved details. The ribs of the predominantly pear-shaped profile with embossed studs carried an unusually archaic six-part and seven-part vault. In the western part of the nave was originally a wooden choir, which was later replaced by a stone structure in the range of three vault fields. Access to the choir was from the first floor of the southern wing of the cloister or through the portal from the spindle staircase. The horizontal segmentation of the interior is characterized by a continuous window cornice, to which the vaults or their bundles terminated by fine spurs converge. Instead of the warheads, polygonal canopies with labels, crabs and scarves are used. Figural consoles of high-quality sculptural work together with other advanced stonework details clearly show that the construction works in Kounice not only familiarized with the morphology usual in the Charles IV Parler’s work, but also reaching its quality level. Access to the choir was from the first floor of the southern wing of the cloister or through the portal from the spindle staircase. The horizontal segmentation of the interior is characterized by a continuous window cornice, to which the vaults or their bundles terminated by a fine spur converge. Instead of the warheads, polygonal canopies with labels, crabs and scarves are used. Figural consoles of high-quality sculptural work together with other advanced stonework details clearly show that the construction works in Kounice not only familiarized with the morphology usual in the Charles IV Parler’s work, but also reaching its quality level. Access to the choir was from the first floor of the southern wing of the cloister or through the portal from the spindle staircase. The horizontal segmentation of the interior is characterized by a continuous window cornice, to which the vaults or their bundles terminated by fine spurs converge. Instead of the warheads, polygonal canopies with labels, crabs and scarves are used. Figural consoles of high-quality sculptural work together with other advanced stonework details clearly show that the construction works in Kounice not only familiarized with the morphology usual in the Charles IV Parler’s work, but also reaching its quality level. Instead of the warheads, polygonal canopies with labels, crabs and scarves are used. Figural consoles of high-quality sculptural work together with other advanced stonework details clearly show that the construction works in Kounice not only familiarized with the morphology usual in the Charles IV Parler’s work, but also reaching its quality level. Instead of warheads, polygonal canopies are used with labels, crabs and scarves. Figural consoles of high-quality sculptural work together with other advanced stonework details clearly show that the construction works in Kounice not only familiarized with the morphology usual in the Charles IV Parler’s work, but also reaching its quality level.

The portal in the south wall of the chancel enters the vestibule of the former sacristy. The sacristy consists of a spacious hall with a cross vault converging into the central beam pillar. However, the vault is not original, but was reconstructed from preserved architectural elements and accessories.

On the northern side of the nave, a cloister with a paradise courtyard adjoins the monastery church. The ground floor of the cloister is vaulted by twenty fields of cloister. The inner wall is reduced only to the pillars of the spiked windows, which are secured in the paradise yard by supporting pillars. The vaulted stone ribs of the pear profile intersect in circular bolts and converge at the pillars of the arcades to the slender cylindrical supports with polygonal feet, on the opposite walls they converge into spurs undercut. Two vaulted fields with brick ribs resemble Baroque adaptations of monastery buildings. The stud of the southwest field bears the inscription RESTAVRATVM A. MDCCCI VAS – restored in 1701 by Vit Abbot of Strahov. The first floor of the cloister is accessed by an additional extension of the staircase. The first floor was opened into the paradise court by rectangular gothic windows with a dividing central stone cross. Of the original vaults, only canopies have been preserved to this day.

On the ground floor of the eastern wing of the cloister there is an entrance to the chapter hall, vaulted by two fields of a ribbed vault. Pear ribs with a bevelled edge cross in circular studs and converge into brackets. There are reliefs of pelican and lamb on the studs; beneath the individually articulated console cover are four human masks with a wreath of oak leaves and a ram and lion head. These embossed bolts and figural consoles again remind us of the connection with the Parléř smelter. The Capitular Hall is the most consistently preserved area of ​​the entire complex.

In the monastery, especially on the ground floor of the cloister, some architectural elements and other parts of its former equipment found during the security work of the ruin are collected. Some fragments come from other places in Dolní Kounice, especially from the castle and chateau. Among the most important are the incomplete tombstone of an unknown Brno canon with an engraved drawing of a priest holding a chalice from 1349, a torso of a late Gothic figural tombstone of the Lower Provost George from around 1500 and a fragment of a marble Renaissance tombstone. period after 1588). Other monuments from the monastery in Dolní Louny are located in the Moravian Museum and the Moravian Gallery in Brno.

 

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Looking for Templars by Brno

Another term I had never entered into Google along with my location was ‘Templar’. Imagine my surprise and delight to find yet again that the Templars had been located very close to Brno! Apparently, the Templars entered Bohemia in 1231 during the reign of King Wenceslas 1 (Yes – the one who looked out on the feast of Stephen!) first establishing ‘Jerusalem’ in Prague.  Later, by 1248, they had established themselves in Moravia at Čekovice near Brno and by 1250 at Jamolice also near to Brno. How did I never know this?

At the earliest opportunity, I was off to visit one of the sites – I chose Jamolice as it happens and the ruins of the Templar Castle – Templstejn. Unfortunately, I didn’t have too much time and was dragging my reluctant daughter with me so this would just be a quick recce trip to prepare for a longer one in better weather (-1 and snowing!). As we set out and I entered it into the GPS, I realized that this site was on the banks of the River Jihlava – the same as the ancient convent of Rosa Coeli at Dolní Kounice – interesting huh?

 

 

Finding the place proved to be difficult. But at Ivančice, we began to follow the river going in the opposite direction to Dolní Kounice. We passed through several small villages as the road narrowed slowly to a single track highway. The first village we hit was nothing special – just a bunch of small houses and farms by the side of the road and yet, to my utter amazement, one of them brazenly flew a Union Jack! In all my time in the Czech Republic, I had never seen a home flying a Union Jack on a flag pole and I wondered who, why and how they managed it knowing how patriotic the Czechs are…..

As we hit the next village, I had to stop and back up. We passed a church you see but this church was, well weird. Czech village churches have a look you know – a certain style. This one looked very different. I photographed it for future reference and research. The church is romanesque and dedicated St. Peter and Paul. It was built in the second half of the 12th century and has a central layout with apses added to three sides. Given the initial research, it would seem that the 1100’s were a significant time for this area.

 

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St. Peter and St. Paul – Reznovice

As we followed the river along, we came across a very recent monument built in local stone and wood to the Templars. U tří Templářů. The monument was opened very recently across from the bridge over the Jihlava. The land above it and to the side of it has that look – as if it has at some time past been worked by humans. We spent a few minutes examining the site with an image of Baphomet, two templars and a throne.

 

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Baphomet

 

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By the Three templars

 

We set off again down the roadway by the river but eventually had to stop as we entered a gorge and the road seemed to become impassable. Despite my pleas that we should walk further, my daughter was having none of it and so reluctantly, I gave up my pursuit of Templstejn for another day. Next time, I would bring proper walking gear as I could see that a hike was going to be involved as the place is not accessible by road – at least not if you still value your vehicle. Besides, the walk would be very interesting.

 

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The Jihlava River

 

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The Gorge

So, we turned away and headed back the way we had come. Fate had another sign for us yet though as the old car we followed down the road back to Brno had a red Templar cross on it.

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The Car

 

Yes – I must return.

I wonder what relationship the Templar site had to the Convent at Dolni Kunice and the strange little church we had seen as well. More research to do it would seem but this river valley – the Jihlava river valley – seemed to have something special about it…..

 

 

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More Moravian Dragons…

I am posting these as much for me at this point – to have them stored some place for future reference….. Often, the article is translated by Google which is why it sounds a bit odd but Google still translates Czech better than I!

The Nakla Dragon

There are many legends linked to Nákl, one of which mentions a dragon. between Nákl and Mezice. In the hillside there was a “Deep Pit” caused by rumors of weather:

In a hillside stretching from Nákl to Mezice, a deep pit opened once after a storm and rain. Strange remains of an unknown creature were found here. People thought it was a dragon’s skeleton. However, there was another landslide and thus the gorge was covered. It is said that there were more dragon skeletons in the pit.

the second version mentions that a dragon settled in that pit. As he flew over it, he left a fiery belt behind him. He always disappeared in the direction of the Puddles toward Hynek. How many times in the night the villagers saw only those lights, but not the dragon itself. He flew only in a thunderstorm, when the thunder rattled and the wind howled and none of the people dared even stick their nose out of the cottage.

According to the villagers, the dragon was carried on the back of the witch. And the hole was a hiding place for witches, kneelers and all sorts of ghosts from all around. And above the hillside, there is a field today, but there used to be a large manor pond. And he was a hastman so they went to the dragon hole.

The rumor does not describe it more, but when you notice the part: the fire band and from the think of the dragon, you have the possibility that an unusual sign has been observed in the sky: which people may have believed where and what superstition. he could judge it was a dragon. something similar is mentioned in the weather records of the village of Nákla…

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Interestingly, Naklo has a dragon boat event it seems each year.

Velke Karlovice

But one of the impressive excursions can also be found “below the hill”, hidden among the trees far from the main road and off the busy hiking trails, when about four kilometers along the road from the center of Velké Karlovice around cottages and pastures with sheep, in the nearby woods you suddenly open a view of a small lake, which you would not be in such a large area even expected.

The dam offers the opportunity for a short walk and sitting. Because it is forbidden to drive by car and the nearest road is far away, you can enjoy a truly exemplary silence disturbed only by the singing of birds or the voices of passers-by.

Karlovice Lake, simply called Lake, was probably created by a landslide, according to some estimates, even in the 16th or 17th century. In addition to its unclear origin, it is surrounded by a mysterious atmosphere thanks to legends and legends. It is said that the devil excavated the adjacent ditch as he tried to drain the water to his mill at the nearby Radhošť Mountain. And that the strange grooves in the surrounding boulders were left behind by the claws of the devils who were helping him.

Probably the best known is the legend that Karel Jaromír Erben has included in his National Fairy Tales. According to her, a sorcerer suddenly appeared to a local cottage man mowing the meadow and offered him enormous wealth by helping him lure two dragons out of the lake and fly them to a place he designated. The cottage man was very afraid of the dragons, but he needed money, so he agreed. The sorcerer led him to the shore of the Lake and lured two dragons out of the lake by his spell, saddled them with bast halbs, each of the men mounted one dragon and set off on their journey. 

They flew for hours and hours over the forests, fields, and towns, until they finally landed in the square of a large city in the desert. Here the sorcerer killed both dragons, cut their flesh and sold them dearly to the locals. Then he rewarded the cottage richly with money, summoned a black goat on which the cottage was mounted, and the goat carried him back to his meadow in Velké Karlovice. The farmer cut the meadow, and since it was already smelling, he went home from work. Here his wife greeted him with a weeping cry because it was exactly a year since he wasn’t home.

Other rumors claim that dragons still live in the lake and hide from the eyes of people. No one has seen them in recent years. On the other hand, there are crayfish and other animals, such as clams.

Around the lake you can follow the hiking trail to other interesting places, including the ridge, from where you can continue to the mythical mountain Soláň.

https://www.valachy.cz/blog/v-jezere-...

Drahotus

Drahotuš castle ruins hidden in the woods of the Odry Hills above the village of Podhoří.

There is a legend that the fire dragon appeared here  . .

The second legend tells the story that the castle was cursed with the castle lord and his ten sons, because they set out on a robbery journey, but eventually they were rescued by a fearless young man.

Little has been preserved from the castle. is almost forgotten. although it is in the same places but on the other side of the tracks. Today Helfštýn everyone knows but Drahotuš little who.

A unique stone bridge over the stream has been preserved under the castle on the access road. The castle has been preserved mounds, ditches, remains of masonry, preserved ground floor of the palace, probably exploded torn pieces of masonry tower, remains of ditches of external fortifications on the access side of the castle.

Drahotuch was a type of bergfrit castle. Its founders chose not exactly the ideal location on a rocky headland, which, although it falls to the south by steep slopes, but continues to the north still up to the height above the valley of Hell. In the north, the promontory was separated by a massive moat, over which stood a round tower that protected the gate, followed by three more moats, and on the southernmost rock was a palace. The remains of the basic walls of the tower, bastions and walls, and especially the ground floor part of the three-part palace, which was uncovered several meters high at the beginning of the 20th century, have been preserved.

The castle was founded by Bohuš of Drahotuš sometime before 1269. The land was administered by the land as a gift because it was used by King Přemysl Otakar II. great respect and seriousness.

Bohuš married Přemysl Otakar to his court as a margrave of Moravia. Marshal (after his father) made him in 1263, when he was Czech king and Austrian duke in Styria and Carinthia. Because Bohus proved to be reliable and capable, the King did not hesitate to give him a piece of his land in the Coast.

The territory to the east of Olomouc has always belonged to the landlord – prince – king – margrave. At the very border of the settlement, at the entrance through the Moravian Gate and still deep forests to Silesia and Poland, there is a zone called as early as 1222, typically named Hranice. The town was not yet, and a market village stood in its place. The center of the estate was the town of Drahotuše, after which the estate was named.

Here is one peculiarity. That the size of Drahotuš was larger than Hranice … There was only a market place in Hranice. Had the situation in that region not changed Drahotuš would continue to grow. And perhaps it would even be located on both sides of the beech… But the growth of the town of Hranice lost the importance of the town of Drahotuš.

At the end of the reign of King Přemysl Otakar II. Drahousuch was a tough competition: the town was supposed to grow up in the border area that was still in the possession of the Hradiste crater. Budiš, the abbot of the monastery in the hillfort near Olomouc, released locator Thám to Hranice on the town on 4th March 1276. The donation of Drahotušsko to Bohuš and not to the bishop makes it possible to excel in the exceptional position that Bohuš enjoyed with the king. The Drahotušsko region was indeed a porta terrae, a gateway to the country, the Moravian Gate – the name used to date. It was only here, from the Ostrava Basin or Těšín region, that the provincial trail connecting the north with the south, the Baltic with Pannonia and Italy, Poland with Moravia.

Drahotuš Castle was built on the outcrop of the Oder Hills, from which it was possible to see a large part of the country. Originally the estates of Drahotuš were situated on both sides of Bečva, but when the second castle of Helfštýn was seized by the Lords of Kravaře, the southern part was torn off.

The descendants of Bohuš decided to sell the estate. These included the villages of Jezernice, Podhoří, Milenov, Radíkov, Slavíč, Klokočí, Hrabůvka, Velká, Svatošov, Středolesí, Soběkov, Uhřínov, part of Bohuslávka, Mikulůvka and Juřitinov.

The Lords of Drahotuš belonged to the Lords of Čeblovice. Lords of Drahotuš held the castle until 1371, then moved to Opava, where they occurred even longer.

Drahotuš received them from Margrave Jan Jindřich and then his son Jošt.

In 1392, the then owner Josst Ctibor estate Tovačovský of Cimburk, the owner then acquired the estate Ctibor’s son Albrecht.

Albrecht Tovačovský of Cimburk was said to have been a supporter of the city of Drahotuše. So far, the subjects of the estate had relieved most of the robots and duties that the lords at the castle had required. He also deprived the city of dying, the law by which the property of childless husbands fell to the nobility.

In 1476, the most powerful Moravian magnate Vilém of Perštejn bought the manor with the castle from Jan Tovačovský of Cimburk for 7000 ducats; Mr. Vilém bought farms in the area – also Lipník and Přerov.

The Pernštejns built mainly Hranice and the town of Drahotuše with the castle was only a source of income. At that time, Drahotuše Castle was probably destroyed. Despite this, Drahotuše was called a wealthy rural town, but slowly fell in the shadow of the rising Borders

 

 

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Chasing Moravian Dragons

In following the activities of Sue Vincent and Stuart France across the landscapes of the UK – start with The Initiate which is a great read and will give you an idea of what they are up to – I was also pointed by Sue to the author Paul Broadhurst and just completed his book on the Green Man. Having read that book, I now also get a bit more of what Sue and Stu are onto in the UK and having just come back from a weekend of magic with them and others in Whitby, it got me to thinking…… what about here? Here being Brno in the Czech Republic.

Well, the first thing that struck me is that Brno is symbolized in part by a dragon. The dragon hangs in the old town hall in public view in fact.  There are lots of stories about the dragon – which is actually a crocodile including this one from foreigners.cz;

“that a Dragon made Brno his home, and threatened the citizens and all of its livestock. Merchants stopped coming to the city to sell, and women stopped going to the market. The plan to kill the dragon was thought up long before somebody with the courage to  actually do it came along or before a master plan was thought up.

Luckily, one day a butcher who was traveling through Brno volunteered. So the courageous butcher created a trap to get rid of the Dragon. The trap was a sac made of fur (ox or sheep), and filled with lime. The dragon became very thirsty after eating this fur and lime, and after drinking so much water at the river his stomach expanded with the lime inside, and it burst! Then, the citizens celebrated by having the dragon preserved and now we can see it hanging from the Old Town Hall – and you might notice, this dragon looks a lot like a crocodile.