North Bohemia – Page 10

Cervené kostely – Red Churches

Cervený kostel, Litomerice © Ricky Yates

The first Toleranzpatent / Patent of toleration of 1781, whilst giving some religious freedom to protestants living within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was still quite restrictive, in particular insisting that any buildings should not look like churches and should not have an entrance directly onto the street. It was only after Emperor Franz Joseph 1 issued his Protestantenpatent / Protestant patent in 1861, that non-Roman Catholics were finally allowed to build and own places of worship which actually looked like churches, with towers or spires and bells, etc.

Therefore within the borders of what is now the Czech Republic, there are numerous church buildings similar to this one in Litomerice, that date from the second half of the nineteenth century, and the early years of the twentieth century. Their architectural style is what I would describe as red-brick Victorian Gothic. In Czech they are known as Cervené kostely / Red or Dark Churches.

These Cervené kostely are located in towns and cities where there was a majority or a large German-speaking population and they were built for worship by German-speaking Lutherans. German-speakers were often the owners of factories and businesses and were wealthy enough to raise the necessary funds for their design and construction.

As I have previously written, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia, was very keen that the boundaries of this new nation should be the historic ones of Bohemia and Moravia which predominantly follow the ridges of the surrounding hills and mountains. This was to ensure that the new nation had defensible borders and that also, nearly all Czech speakers would be living within those borders.

However, one important consequence of the adoption of these borders was that many people of German ethnic origin were also incorporated into Czechoslovakia. According to a census taken in 1921, just over three million Germans lived in Czechoslovakia accounting for around 23% of the country’s total population. The areas where Germans formed a majority were known as Sudetenland and the people themselves as the Sudetendeutsche.

In December 1918, less than two months after the new independent state of Czechoslovakia had come into existence, the Czech Lutheran Church and the Czech Presbyterian/Reformed Church agreed to unite, forming the Ceskobratrská církev evangelická (CCE) / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB). They were then, and still are, the largest Czech Protestant Church and celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of their formation in December last year.

But it was only the Czech-speaking Lutherans who joined the newly formed CCE/ECCB. A separate German-speaking Lutheran Church remained, until 1945.

In 1945, under the Potsdam agreement and the Beneš decrees, nearly all ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia and the German-speaking Lutheran Church within the country, ceased to exist, leaving behind empty Cervené kostely.

Cervený kostel /Red Church, Brno © Ricky Yates

It has been interesting visiting, photographing, and trying to discover what has happened to these abandoned Church buildings since 1945. The Cervený kostel in Brno, which I previously featured in this blog post about the city in 2012, is now in the hands of the CCE/ECCB and is used regularly by them for worship.

The Cervený kostel in Olomouc, which I haven’t visited, meaning that I don’t have a photograph, also initially passed to the CCE/ECCB. But in 1957, it was given to Palacký University and for many years, housed the archives of their Research Library. It is now to be revamped to become a new venue for concerts, exhibitions and a café.

The Cervený kostel in Litomerice, which I featured at the beginning of this post and can be seen again, from a different angle, in the photograph above, now belongs the relatively small Czech Baptist Union. But whether the Baptists in Litomerice had their own building prior to 1945, or how they were able to take over the former German Lutheran Church, is a mystery to which I don’t know the answer. There is no relevant information on their website.

The photograph above is of the Cervený kostel in Varnsdorf, a town which lies right on the border of the Czech Republic with Germany. So far as I can tell, the church is not currently used for anything. I believe it now belongs to the town council who appear to be about to carry out much needed repair work, judging by the recently erected scaffolding around the spire.

Kostel svatého Pavla, Ústí nad Labem © Ricky Yates

Kostel svatého Pavla, located in the centre of Ústí nad Labem, is another fine example of a Cervený kostel. Despite appearances, the building is not made of bricks, but of concrete, covered with glued red tiles to imitate bricks. The Czech Wikipedia article about this church explains that after 1945, all German inscriptions were either ground down or whitened so as to be no longer visible.

This Church is now co-owned and administered by the CCE/ECCB and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (CCSH) who both use it for worship – the CCE/ECCB on Sunday mornings and the CCSH on Sunday afternoons.

I am well aware that there are several more Cervené kostely elsewhere in the Czech Republic which I hope to find, visit, and photograph, over the next few years. In the meantime, if anyone can throw more light on how, post 1945, they have ended up in the hands of their current owners, please do leave a comment here on my blog.

Finally, I once again apologise for the absence of some Czech diacritics. Unfortunately, as I have previously explained, my blog set-up can only cope with certain diacritics. Any it doesn’t like are rendered as question marks, and names such as Litom??ice and ?ervené kostely would appear in the text.

Progress with the House – Windows

Stará Oleška 44 in April 2017 © Ricky Yates

It has become quite clear to me since moving into my new home in Stará Oleška, that the previous elderly owners, had alterations and improvements done to the house, as and when they could afford it. This is reflected in the variety of windows that there are.

The photograph at the beginning of this post, shows the house as it was in April 2017, a few weeks before moving in on 15^th May 2017. Please use it as a point of reference for what follows in the rest of this post.

The two windows in the upper floor of the house, directly under the apex of the roof, are quite old. They are double-glazed but have wooden frames. Once I had moved in, I noticed that the exterior paintwork of these window frames was in a very poor state. Bearing in mind that they are located in the most exposed area of the house, back in August 2017, I made getting them painted, one of my first priorities.

Fortunately, it was, and still is, possible to completely remove the windows which made painting them far easier than in situ. Here they are, laid out on a table, under cover at the back of the house, having received their second coat of gloss paint.

Surrounding window frames having been painted © Ricky Yates

Likewise, with the windows removed, painting the surrounding frames was also a much simpler task. I am pleased to report that, following my labours of August 2017, the paintwork still looks in good order, having now survived two Czech winters.

One of the last things the previous owners did, was to have the verandah on the front of the house enclosed. In order to do this, they had two pairs of high-quality double-glazed uPVC windows fitted across the front of the verandah. But they did nothing about the windows on the side of the verandah – the ones nearest the front door in the photo and their twins on the other side. These were single-glazed with wooden frames, on which condensation soon started appearing in the Autumn of 2017.

Having ascertained that Rudolf Cebiš from the village, (Ruda to his friends 😉 ), had procured and fitted the uPVC windows, I approached him about having matching ones made and fitted on both sides of the verandah and also replacing three other small windows on the far side of the house. He came and measured up and in due course, gave me a written quotation for the work.

I accepted his quotation, paid him a deposit and the manufacture of the new windows was set in train. Some weeks later, on the morning of 9^th November 2017, Ruda and one of the guys who works for him, arrived with the new uPVC double-glazed windows.

New uPVC windows ready for fitting © Ricky Yates

Here they are, laid out on the front lawn.

In next to no time, the old ones were removed…..

New uPVC windows fitted on the side of the verandah © Ricky Yates

……and the new ones fitted.

The section of the house stretching back from the front door with roofs at a fairly gentle angle, is clearly a later addition. What was the front door before this section was added, is now the door between my bedroom and the enclosed verandah. The two pairs of windows on the side of this newer addition, which you can see in the first photograph, are double-glazed and quite modern, but still have wooden, rather than uPVC frames. There is also a similar pair of windows at the rear of the house.

I was determined to get all of these painted this summer, not least because the existing exterior paintwork was beginning to go in a few places, especially on the pair at the rear of the house. However, I knew that I would need several successive days of dry weather to accomplish the task. Fortunately, such period occurred towards the end of July.

As is usual with any painting job, the most important part and also the most time consuming, was the preparation needed before I could start to paint. First of all, I cleaned the all the glass, inside and out, discovering how much more light this let in 😉 Then I rubbed back the areas where the existing paintwork was beginning to go and covered those areas with an initial coat of paint. Once that was dry, I then washed down all of the window-frames.

Windows with masking tape in place, ready for painting © Ricky Yates

I knew from past experience of painting window-frames, that the only way to ensure paint didn’t end up on the glass, was to use masking tape. Accurately masking each windowpane, inside and out, was a tedious task. Only when this was complete, could I finally start painting. Above is a photograph of one of the pairs of windows, finally ready to be painted. My apologies for the reflection of the photographer on the glass 🙂

Not only did the weather remain dry for several days, it was also very hot and sunny. Fortunately, the two pairs of windows are on the west-facing side of the house meaning that the sun didn’t shine on them directly, until the early afternoon. So I was able to work fairly comfortably each day, until it was time to stop and have a late lunch. And because it was so warm, there was no problem with leaving the windows wide open for several nights, allowing the paint to dry hard.

Freshly painted windows in the evening sunlight © Ricky Yates

Here are the freshly painted windows on the west-facing side of the house, drying in the evening sunlight.

And here is the pair of windows at the rear, north-facing side of the house, freshly painted, with the masking tape removed and the glass cleaned, once again.

With all this painting complete, with the exception of the front door, (another story), the exterior of the house is ready to face the next Czech winter. However, as a result of my labours, my neighbour Pavel, who lives in the house behind me, has given me a new name – Rembrandt 🙂

A Walk to Hinterhermsdorf

Me, above Malá Pravcická brána © Ricky Yates

Now that summer is here, I’ve been determined to get out and explore more of this beautiful area on foot. Being as close as I am to Germany, I’ve frequently looked at the map and thought that it would be fun to walk through the mountains and over the border into Germany, staying overnight, before walking back to the Czech Republic, a day or two later. So on Monday 24^th June, that is what I set out to do.

I first took the bus from Stará Oleška where I live, to the end of the 436 bus route in Vysoká Lípa. As it was nearly midday when I arrived, I treated myself to an early lunch in Restaurace Pension U Nás to give me sustenance for my walk. I also purchased a bottle of mineral water, one thing I had foolishly forgotten to pack in my rucksack, before leaving home.

Leaving Vysoká Lípa on the yellow waymarked route, immediately ahead of me was the towering Šaunštejn Castle. Very little remains of the 14^th century castle which once stood on this rocky outcrop. Below are a couple of photographs taken back in the Autumn of 2017 when I climbed to the top of it.

View from Šaunštejn Castle over Vysoká Lípa © Ricky Yates

On this occasion, I didn’t visit the top, deciding to save my energy for the walk ahead.

Now on the red waymarked route, the path climbs via a series of stone steps….

…. and wooden steps….

View from the red waymarked route © Ricky Yates

…..with splendid views….

…..to Malá Pravcická brána. This is a far smaller natural rock arch than its much more famous namesake, Pravcická brána, which is located a few kilometres further west. Alongside Malá Pravcická brána is metal ladder that leads to a viewpoint where the photograph of me at the beginning of this post, was taken.

Leaving the red waymarked route shortly afterwards, a further four kilometres of walking along a wider track, which is also a designated cycle route, brought me to the Czech-German border which at this point is formed by the Krinice (Czech) Kirnitzsch (German) river.

This is the bridge between the the two countries, taken on the German side of the border, looking back into the Czech Republic.

Krinice (Czech) Kirnitzsch (German) river © Ricky Yates

Whilst here is a view of the river, taken from the bridge, with the Czech Republic on the left and Germany on the right.

Stepping into Germany, my plan had been to take the Grüner Strich route to the village of Hinterhermsdorf, where I had previously booked to spend the night. Unfortunately, when I reached the point where this route goes off to the right, there was a notice in German, saying that it was currently blocked by fallen trees, following a recent storm. Instead the notice said, I should walk on further and take the next track on the right, a designated cycle route.

I did as instructed and realised, as I consulted my map, that further along this cycle route, a red waymarked route went off to the left, fairly directly towards Hinterhermsdorf. What I didn’t take note of at the time, was how many contour lines there were to cross! It was a steep, tiring climb on what was a very hot day, during the recent heatwave which has hit much of continental Europe.

Rock tunnel on the Tunnelweg © Ricky Yates

The stiff climb, the heat and ensuring I was on the correct path, meant I only took this one, slightly out of focus, photograph, where the path passes through a short tunnel under the rocks. I’ve since discovered that the path is called the Tunnelweg.

I did eventually reach the top from where it was a further two kilometres walk, fairly gently downhill, into Hinterhermsdorf. It was good to finally reach Gasthof zur Hoffnung, get showered and changed before sitting out on the terrace and enjoying some well-deserved liquid refreshment 🙂

Whilst I am used to feeling a bit stiff after a fairly long walk, when I woke up the following morning I could hardly move my right knee and putting weight on my right ankle was quite painful. So after gingerly making my way downstairs for an excellent breakfast, rather than going on a circular walk through the surrounding hills as I had originally envisaged, I returned to room to rest up. However, I did make good use of the day by writing and posting my previous blog post about Meissen 😉

I did eventually go for a brief hobble around the centre of the village. And in the evening, I once more hobbled, this time to the nearby Gasthaus zur Wanderstübel, as the restaurant where I was staying had Ruhetag 🙁

The following morning, with a right knee and ankle still not functioning properly, and with the continued excessive heat, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Instead of walking back over the border to Vysoká Lípa and getting the bus back to Stará Oleška, I decided to make my way home by public transport. First a bus from the stop right outside Gasthof zur Hoffnung, to Bad Schandau railway station. Then by train along the Elbe/Labe valley to Decín. Finally by bus from Decín to Stará Oleška.

However, I do hope to make a return visit to Hinterhermsdorf and explore the surrounding area. After my recent experience, I shall probably drive there and make it my base and also try to do so when the weather is a few degrees cooler.

Meißen

The twin spires of the Meißner Dom/Meissen Cathedral © Ricky Yates

On Sunday 16^th June, I once more officiated and preached at the monthly English-language Anglican Service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden. I was also invited by the Stiftung Frauenkirche Dresden, to attend a sommerliches Grillbuffet, the following evening, an event laid on as a ‘Thank you’, for all the volunteers and staff who help at the Frauenkirche. Deciding it would be silly to return home on Sunday evening, only to drive back to Dresden the next day, I instead stayed overnight and spent several hours on Monday 17^th June, exploring the city of Meißen.

Meißen lies about 25km north-west of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river. It didn’t take that long to drive there and, having found a suitable car park alongside the Elbe, I then set out on foot to explore the historic city centre. Unlike Dresden, it appears not to have suffered much destruction during the Second World War, presumably because of having very little industry and not being a major transport hub.

Walking along Elbstrasse, I soon reached the Markt, overlooked by the Rathaus…

….and by the Frauenkirche.

Then I headed up Burgstrasse.

A view across the rooftops of Meissen © Ricky Yates

At the end of the street, a series of stone steps took me up towards the Meißner Dom/Meissen Cathedral, to a place where there is this wonderful view across rooftops, towards the Elbe and the railway bridge that crosses the river.

Meißner Dom/Meissen Cathedral © Ricky Yates

Finally, I arrived in the Domplatz with the Meißner Dom/Meissen Cathedral towering in front of me.

Entrance to the Dom is not through the large doors at the west end but through another door part way down the south side. Adjacent to this entrance is the Allerheiligenkapelle which is specifically designated as a place of silence. I enjoyed spending time in prayer here, before going on to explore the main building.

There is a entrance fee for visiting the Dom. Arriving at the cash desk and whilst getting my wallet out of my pocket, I explained to the lady cashier in my best German 🙂 , that I was an Anglican priest and the previous evening, had conducted Anglican Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden. Upon hearing this, she gave me my entrance ticket free of charge! Maybe this was because of her name – Frau Engel/Mrs Angel 🙂

Below are some more photographs of the interior of the Dom.

Triptych behind the nave altar © Ricky Yates

Triptych behind the altar in the Hoher Chor © Ricky Yates

I would like to have attended this event, held the previous evening. Interestingly, it is called ‘Hymns of Praise’ in English, and featured the compositions of Antonín Dvorák from the country where I now live, and of John Rutter, from the country where I used to live.

Walking around the edge of the rocky outcrop on which the Dom is situated, there is a splendid view across the Elbe. Afterwards, I treated myself to an excellent lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Domplatz, accompanied by locally produced liquid refreshment 🙂

One place I didn’t visit was the Albrechtsburg, the castle that adjoins the Dom. As you can see, it is currently undergoing major restoration work which rather detracts from this iconic view from alongside the Elbe. A reason to make a return visit at some future date.

Meißner Dom and Albrechtsburg © Ricky Yates

A wonderful Sunday at the Frauenkirche, Dresden

As is explained here on the Frauenkirche website, the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer for which I am responsible, is made possible because of the Meissen Agreement. This is an ecumenical agreement, made in 1988, between the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) – the main German Protestant Church, and the Church of England. The implementation of this agreement and seeking to take it to the ultimate goal of full communion between the two Churches, is overseen by a body called the Meissen Commission.

In August last year, having ascertained that Rt Rev’d Dr Jonathan Gibbs, Suffragan Bishop of Huddersfield, is the current Anglican Co-Chair of the Meissen Commission, I wrote to him asking whether there was any space in his episcopal diary when, wearing his Meissen Commission ‘hat’, he could come to Dresden and be the preacher at the English-language Anglican service. Knowing that bishops can have very full diaries, I gave him all the dates of the 2019 services to choose from. He kindly replied a few days later, saying he would be very pleased to accept my invitation and that he would confirm a date very soon, once he had reviewed his 2019 diary commitments.

Bishop Jonathan’s reply arrived the same day as I was attending a meeting of the Predigerrunde in Dresden, to plan all the Frauenkirche evening services in the first four months of 2019. So I mentioned to Frauenkirchenpfarrer Sebastian Feydt, that I had invited Bishop Jonathan to preach at one of the English-language Anglican services in 2019 and was awaiting confirmation of a suitable date. He was most pleased & asked me to let him know when I had an agreed date. If the chosen date didn’t clash with an existing booked preacher, he would then like to invite him to preach auf Deutsch at their 11.00 service that morning.

Therefore, to cut a long story short, and to ensure that this blog post does actually get published, two months ago on Sunday 17^th March, I spent a long but most enjoyable day in Dresden with Bishop Jonathan and his wife Toni.

For the 11.00 Morning Service in German, I sat with Toni Gibbs in the congregation. The service was led by Sebastian Feydt and Bishop Jonathan preached. Toni had the complete English text of her husband’s sermon on her tablet so we both were able to easily follow what he was saying in German. Bishop Jonathan explained to me afterwards that he had first written the sermon in English, then translated it into German, before sending it to a German native speaker, to double-check his grammar and sentence construction 😉

The sermon was based on John 3. 14-21 including those well-known words in verse 16, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…’ He challenged the congregation as to how we show the love of God to every human being, including those who are different to us. He said, ‘As we approach 29th March, the date of Brexit, we as Christians need to be speaking up for a better way of living, one that demonstrates the love of God for every single human being, both in Europe and throughout the world. We need to lift up Jesus Christ, not as a tribal symbol of a Christian sub-culture, but as the Lord and Saviour of the whole of humanity.’

If you can read German, then the complete text of Bishop Jonathan’s sermon is currently available on the Frauenkirche website here. In the week following his Dresden visit, the ‘Yorkshire Post’ published an edited extract of the sermon in English, which can be found here.

Within his sermon, Bishop Jonathan gave an outline of his own life story, explaining that for six years (1992-98) he was priest of the Anglican Church in Basel, as well as priest of the Anglican Church in Freiburg-im-Breisgau. He then said, ‘As perhaps you can hear, it was in Basel that I first learned German!’

These words were picked up by Sebastian Feydt when giving the notices near the end of the service. He reminded the congregation of the Anglican service that evening, at which Bishop Jonathan would once again be preaching, this time in English, but with a Swiss-German accent. The whole congregation collapsed with laughter!

Frauenkirchenpfarrer Sebastian Feydt & Bishop Jonathan Gibbs © Ricky Yates

Following the Morning Service, Sebastian Feydt gave +Jonathan, Toni and I, a personal guided tour of the Frauenkirche. This was followed by a most enjoyable lunch in a nearby restaurant, at episcopal expense 😉 +Jonathan was also very keen to climb to the top of the Frauenkirche dome to enjoy the spectacular views across Dresden, something I had done two and a half years ago. So after lunch, that is what we did.

It is interesting to compare this photo taken by me back in August 2016……

Neumarkt, with construction work continuing © Ricky Yates

….with this one that I took on Sunday 17^th March 2019.

Neumarkt, with construction work complete © Ricky Yates

Then after a brief break, starting at 18.00, I led the English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer at which +Jonathan preached. This service continued the theme of Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation, which as I explained in my earlier post, has involved preaching our way through the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation. +Jonathan thus addressed the line, ‘Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, Father, forgive.’

+Jonathan took as his main Biblical text, Matthew 25. 31-46, where Jesus describes the judgement of the nations, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory’. Jesus describes how people will be separated just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The ‘sheep’ on the right will be invited to, ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for you’. The reason for the invitation is that when they saw the king hungry, they fed him, when they saw him thirsty, they gave him something to drink, when he was in prison, they visited him etc.

The ‘righteous’, as they are called, are surprised by this because they never saw the king in any of the situations he describes. The punchline of the story comes in the king’s reply. ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it for the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’. In turn, those on the king’s left receive his judgement because their failure to care for the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or those in prison.

+Jonathan went on to point out that this passage should not be used to preach a gospel of justification by works, as some people try to do. Taking note of the context of the story in the Gospel of Matthew, it is the last instructions given by Jesus to his followers, before his death on the cross. In other words, if you want to be my disciples, this is how you should live out your faith.

With +Jonathan & Toni Gibbs following the evening service © Toni Gibbs

In the days following Sunday 17^th March, I received an appreciative email of thanks from +Jonathan and was copied in on an equally appreciative email from Sebastian Feydt to +Jonathan. In his email, Sebastian Feydt expressed the hope that +Jonathan would be willing to re-visit the Frauenkirche at some future date. So I do hope to try and arrange a similar Sunday, some time in 2020.