My long time Czech friend Radim recently moved from Brno to a town near Nachod near the Plolish border, and upon visiting him from Wroclaw, Poland, I mentioned to him that I'm interested in visiting the TWHS of the Betlém Rock Sculptures.

So, on one Sunday afternoon in late August, we (Radim, his wife, a daughter, a baby son and me) drove from the Kudowa train station in Poland, where he picked me up, to the TWHS near Kuks.

Betlém means Bethlehem, and in the early 18th century the prominent Earl in this area Franz Anton Sporcka decided to create "a unique complex of religious scenes featuring old hermits and episodes from the life of Christ" with the help of a sculptor Matthias Bernhard Braun who was born in Austria but worked in Bohemia. 

There is a parking lot at the place, and we were able to easily walk from there following the path to view the sculptures. We only walked for about 500 m to what seemed to be the main set of sculptures, "Braun's Nativity Scene." (The photo) Along the 500 m path I also saw two more sets of sculptures.

The photo shows from left the scenes of the Adoration of the Magi, the Nativity and the Revelation of St. Hubertus.

You could walked passed "Braun's Nativity Scene" all the way to the historic Hospital in Kuks to view more sculptures. In fact the best way to do is to walk from the hospital to the "Braun's Nativity Scene" for 3.5 km and to walk back, which is what is designed for the guests/patients in the spa town of Kuks.

After visiting this TWHS we had lunch at the restaurant at the Hospital Kuks. According to my friend Radim, the Hospital Kuks is as famous and popular among Czechs as the Charles Bridge in Prague. Both the Hospital Kuks and the Charles Bridge also feature the sculptures by Matthias Bernhard Braun. His series of sculptures at the Hospital Kuks is called "Virtues and Vices," and I am not sure why this hospital is not included in the nomination.

Speaking of the nomination, I would also include one more piece of history from this region. This part of Czechia is in fact known for sculptures. Why? The answer lies in abundant sandstone in the area. Sandstone, resistant to rain, is easy to work with for sculptors creating outdoor sculptures. As such, not far from Kuks is the city of Horice with the only sculpture school initiated under the auspices of the Hapsburgs, the Horice Stonemason Training School, seit 1884. 

The other schools initiated by the Hapsburgs that are already on the WHS list are of course "Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem WHS" in Czechia and the Mining Academy at "Historic Town of Banska Stiavnica and the Technical Monuments in its Vicinity WHS" in Slovakia.

Earlier this year I had a privilege of touring this school and also St. Gothard Sculpture Park in Horice by invitation by the mayor of Horice. The school has produced sculptors working around Europe for 140 years, such as Quido Kocián, Jan Štursa, Ladislav Šaloun, and Josef Wagner the Younger.

If you are visiting the Betlém Rock Sculptures, I would definitely recommend visiting the Hospital Kuks and St. Gothard Sculpture Park in Horice.