On my way from Trebic to Brno, I made a detour to visit the Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk near the city of Zdar nad Sazavou on early April, knowing that it was closed to the public, so my initial idea was just to look around the peaceful church landscape which reportedly to be located on the picturesque green hill. From a far the unique church structure on the green hill was really eye catching, I planned to drive around the hill with a hope to find a perfect spot for photographing and discovered that the cemetery next to the church was in full swing of Easter graves visit which caused unexpected traffic jam around the church! I noticed that there were people who entered the church, so I decided to follow them.

It turned out that those people I saw was contractors who were rushing their jobs in order to complete the church restoration before the summer. There was no guard, so I just entered the compound with no problem. Inside was a complete mess with restoration materials almost everywhere, the design of five-pointed star shape church was really unique and look a bit confusing in design and I was curious for its interior. Unfortunately, the doors were close, they seemed to just repaint the doors and put plastic sheet to cover all wooden parts. I also noticed the recently move gravesite, a thing that I read before that church is in the process to remove all grave to the new one outside the church compound. The layout of ten-pointed star cloister was amazingly complex, walking around the cloister was a bit like walking in the labyrinth. There were some nice chapels and ceiling painting which clearly inspired from the star shape. Even for a casual visitor the star related design and symbols were easy to notice which made me immediately googled the story of St. John of Nepomuk in order to understand the meaning.

I spend around thirty minutes in the compound, there was nothing much to see actually. Anyway, I really appreciate the unique design and the play of symbolism of the church. Judging from the layout and design I don’t think the architect expected many pilgrims, there was no such place that suitable for gathering large people, maybe the outside beautiful green hill is more appropriate for religious practice. Its outstanding universal value, in my opinion, was quite OK since most of the traditional churches around the world were mostly built on cross rectangular or square shape, so the special design of five- and ten-pointed star shape of Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk is a good example for original idea, a unique site among World Heritage Sites.