Sights and tourist destinations

  The majority of visitors want to see Hradec Castle. It was the Lichnovsky lineage who wrote the most significant chapter in its history. The castle houses valuable collections of antique furniture, glass and china, a library and a picture gallery. 

    Hradec, though, does not mean only the castle. Many other places are worth seeing, too – among them the Church of St. Peter and Paul from the 16th century, stations of the Cross called the Silesian Calvary and unique relics of fortifications called Šance from the Silesian Wars, which gave its name also to the latest tourist attraction, the Šance Observation Tower, situated 522 m above the sea level. From its top there is a marvelous view of Opava region and both the Beskydy and Jeseníky mts. You should not miss a 19th century wonder of technology, a 3.5 km long Weisshuhn`s Paper Mill Race leading through three tunnels built in slopes and two aqueducts.

It was founded in 1764 by Anna Maria Thomagnini (1769 – 1769), mother of Wolfgang of Neffzern, the owner of Hradec Estate. Her waking dream, a vision of believers climbing up an illuminated hill, gave rise to the construction of the Stations of the Cross on the top of a 415 m high hill, to the east of Hradec Castle.

The climb from the foothill to the stone cross on the top of the Calvary leads along 13 chapels of the Stations of the Cross. An unknown person had the impressions of those standing near the cross inscribed on a marble slab which was set there in 1880: “Doubters, who meditate about God and his omnipotence, look around, think and be silent!”

In 1989 the existing metal paintings of Christ´s Calvary were replaced by stone reliefs and the roof covering was renewed. The latest reconstruction was made in 2004 – 2009. A specialized firm repaired and drained the walls and painted all chapels. In 2006, after gaining subsidies, the reliefs were restored and polychromed by Jakub Gajda, a sculptor and restorer. Beautifully restored reliefs meant such a surprise for the town authorities that it was decided to have copies of the reliefs made and get them installed into the repaired chapels.

The tradition of pilgrimages to Hradec Calvary is more than 200 years long. After World War II it was renewed as early as September 1945, but after 1950 the pilgrimages were prohibited and shortly renewed only in 1968 – 1970 period. The revolution in 1989 meant a new beginning for the pilgrimages, which are held in September on a Sunday near the St. Cross religious holiday.