Hostýn
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Hostýn (or Svatý Hostýn, i.e. Saint Hostýn) is a hill in
Chvalčov Chvalčov is a municipality and village in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,600 inhabitants. Chvalčov lies approximately north-east of Kroměříž, north of Zlín, and east of Prague. History Th ...
in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It is part of the
Hostýn-Vsetín Mountains Hostýn-Vsetín Mountains ( cs, Hostýnsko-vsetínská hornatina) is a mountain range in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. The mountains are densely forested mainly by secondary spruce plantations. Most visited are the bordering Rožnovská ...
and has an elevation of . It is an important
Marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places *Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...
place of pilgrimage. The pilgrimage comes from a legend that describes a miracle made by the Virgin Mary.


Legend

According to a traditional legend, first recorded in 1665 by the writer
Bohuslav Balbín Bohuslav Balbín (3 December 1621 Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz) – 29 November 1688 Prague) was a Czech writer, historian, geographer and Jesuit, called the "Czech Pliny". He became well known also as an advocate of the Czech language i ...
in his work ''Diva Montis Sancti'', during the disastrous raid of the "Tartars" in the 13th century, people who were seeking asylum here lacked water and they prayed Mary for help. It is said that a stream of water came out of the ground and a powerful storm forced Tatars to retreat.


History

On the hilltop is an ancient hill fort with a ditch and
defensive wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
made of earth and stone, which is 4–8 metres high. The fortification was first built by the people of the Lusatian culture circa 1200 BCE. In later centuries it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, including by the Celts. The first medieval chapel of Virgin Mary was probably built by the miners and was first mentioned in 1544 without any reference to the legend, which probably originated from the existence of massive walls, chapel and spring near the hilltop. At the time when the legend was first mentioned by
Bohuslav Balbín Bohuslav Balbín (3 December 1621 Hradec Králové (German: Königgrätz) – 29 November 1688 Prague) was a Czech writer, historian, geographer and Jesuit, called the "Czech Pliny". He became well known also as an advocate of the Czech language i ...
(1665), it was a clear analogy to the contemporary war with the Turks. After another successful war against Turks there were an increasing number of pilgrims visiting Hostýn, so a new basilica was built in 1721–1748 together with Via Crucis, the pilgrims' hospice and other facilities. Another chapel was built next to the
spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
of "holy water", which was believed by locals to possess a healing effect. This led to the nickname "Moravian Lourdes" for Hostýn. A 240-step stairway from the spring to the basilica was constructed in 1909. In 1903 new open-air
Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
were built by the architect
Dušan Jurkovič Dušan Samo Jurkovič (23 August 1868, Turá Lúka – 21 December 1947, Bratislava) was a Slovak architect, furniture designer, artist and ethnographer. One of the best-known promoters of Slovak art in 20th century Czechoslovakia, he is reme ...
, and are now a major tourist attraction for the region, together with the basilica itself, attracting not only Catholic pilgrims but thousands of other tourists. The largest crowds at the site were in August 1912, when the main statue of Virgin Mary was crowned by the golden crown blessed in Rome by Pius X. The number of pilgrims and other visitors was estimated to be 200,000 within ten days.


Geology

The entire massif consists of so-called ''Hostýn geological formation''. The Hostýn hill oneself mainly of paleogenic flysch sandstone. The base(foot) and saddles of partly of
deluvial Diluvium is an archaic term applied during the 1800s to widespread surficial deposits of sediments that could not be explained by the historic action of rivers and seas. Diluvium was initially argued to have been deposited by the action of extra ...
soil-stone-clay deposits.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hostyn Mountains and hills of the Czech Republic Kroměříž District Catholic pilgrimage sites