Varianta:  A  ===   B ======      C =========

 A *

  P I LG R I M A G E P L A C E  K Ř T I N Y

has very ancient origin. At about the year 1210 were founded at Křtinské údolí /means valley of baptism - vallis baptismi/ a church and a monastery.

Till 18th century two churches were standing here. Present pilgrimage sanctuary was built 1728 - 1750 by master builder Fr. J. Ritz of Brno, the construction projected by baroque architect Giovanni Santini /1677-1723/. Ceiling frescos were peinted by painter Jan Jiří Entgens of Brno /1691-1759/. Sculptures and cuts are the work of sculptor Ondřej Schweigel from Brno, pictures of Ignác Raab and Josef Winterhalder.

Gothic stone statue of Virgin Mary has its origin in the 13th century. The sanctuary of Křtiny is a great building: 65 m long, 35 m wide and 35 m high inside. The church tower is 73 m high. The whole sanctuary has more than 30 windows.

The statues of St Augustine, St Norbert and of a lying  virgin below them and the vases originate from baroque sculptor Ignác Lengelacher from Mikulov.

Main pilgrimages:

the Sunday after Ascension Day, Whitsuntide,

the Sunday before the feast of St Peter and Paul, the Sunday after the feast of St Ann and during the whole September.

The chapel is consecrated to St Ann.

 B  * 

Pilgrimage church of the Holy Virgin Mary in Křtiny

Křtiny is one of the best from the oldest pilgrimage destination in our country. An old tradition speaks about Cyrill and Method baptizing in the valley. That´s where the old name comes from: vallis baptismi - the valley of baptisme. The tradition also speaks about the appearance of the Holy Virgin Mary of Křtiny in a nearthy Bukovinka where a chapel stans nowadays with a sign saying: This is a place where The Holy Virgin of Křtiny  appeared in the 1210. According to the written sources Křtiny was a living pilgrimage point in the 13th century already.

The biggest bloom came from 17th and 18th century when it became a center of tbe spiritual renewal of the entire Moravia. The pilgrimage place was called: The first Ave. Premonstrates who acted here in that time decided to build up a temple which would match the importance and the meaning of the place. The plans were made by a famous baroque architecte John Blaise Santini Aichel /1677 - 1723/. The Křtiny´s church is his most beautiful building and is desservedly called: The Pearl of Moravia.

The inner decorations were a shared work of the top baroque masters. The autor of the statue embellishment was Andreas Schweigel together with his father Anton. The beautiful ceiling frescos painted by a Brno´s artist Johann Georg Etgens (1697-1757).  The temple was finished and consecrated on the 1st May 1750.

The planned additional construction of more ambits and a St Joseph´s chapel was never started.  The roof of the church was covered with shingle and furst  but after it was burned in 1844 the entire objekt was roofed with schist. The building was quite badly destroyed during the air strike in 1945. A complete reconstruction that took so far almost 70 million crowns (2,4 million euros) started in 1974.

Pilgrims come there throughout the entire year. There are the greatest decoration of the Marian sanctury.

C  *

Pilgrimage and Parish Temple of the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Křtiny

The temple dominates the village Křtiny and the whole environs in the foreland of the Moravian Karst. It is rightfully called "the pearl of Moravia".

It was founded around the year 1210 by the Premonstratensians of Zábrdovice in Křtiny valley that was called the Valley of baptism - Vallis baptismi. Křtiny became a centre of a monastery manor thanks to a gift from Lev of Klobouky, the Moravian nobleman. By the church there was built a monastery, and in the Middle Ages an abbot's residence, later rebuilt to a castle.

The pilgrimage temple has an eventful history. In the earliest times in its place there were two older churches. The smaller church was of Romanesque style and the larger one of  Gothic style. The both churches made way for construction of a new monumental pilgrimage church designed by architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel (1677-1723). Susan Catherine Liborio of Dietrichstein, born in Zástřizly was a donator.  The church was building within the years 1728 to 1750. Construction was carried out by František Antonín Ritz (1697-1767), an architect of Brno. On the 21^st April 1771 the temple was consecrated by Francis Matthew Chorinský (1771-1786), the Bishop-Ordainer of Olomouc for the title of the Name of the Virgin Mary.

The Nave is vaulted in the Baroque style of the shape of a Greek cross with the central dome and the frontal tower. In the western part there is the main altar with the most important monument kept in the pilgrimage church, a Gothic stone statue of the Virgin Mary of Grace from the 13^th century. She is called the Patron-Saint of Moravia. There are several interpretations of its origin.

The decoration of the temple was a work of great artists of the 18^th century. The ceiling frescoes were painted by the artist George Etgens of Brno (1691-1759). And other and other masters participated on the decorations, such as the painter Josef Stern (1716-1775). Sculptor decoration was made by the Tyrolean artist Anthony Schweigl (1695-1761), who worked in Brno. After his death his son Ondřej Schweigl (1735-1812) undertook the half done work. Another artist sculptor Ignaz Lengelacher (1698-1780) decorated the facade of the temple by sculptures. The interior was decorated with paintings by Jesuit Ignatius Raab (1715-1787), one of the greatest Czech painters of the 18th century and Joseph Winterhalder Jr. (1743-1807), a prominent painter of the Baroque period.   Adjacent to the church there is an arched cloister with the St Anne's Chapel. In the cloister there is a gallery of votive paintings, 14 Stations of the Cross (VIA CRUCIS) and the Carillon. 

Another wing of the cloister had never been completed. However, in the autumn of the year 2012, revitalization of the adjacent park was completed. Its author, Professor Ivan Otruba, designed to create green cloisters of hornbeam hedgerow on the parish plot. And Ondřej Nečaský as a co-author of that project of castle park adaptation suggested the shape of the hedgerow in accordance with an unrealized Santini's project. Since the year 2013, the Way of Light  - the "VIA LUCIS" with 14 Stations around the symbolic perimeter of the cloister row was created. 

The church has a long tradition of pilgrimage which was adversely affected by the prohibition of pilgrimages during the reign of the Emperor Joseph II, as well as during the years of the communist regime. In the year 2010 parishioners celebrated together with the pilgrims the 800th anniversary of pilgrimages to Křtiny.  

The Temple of Křtiny is regarded as one of the most beautiful baroque buildings in Moravia and one of the most valuable architectural and artistic monuments, which should not pass unnoticed by visitors.