Hrobka rodiny Stanieků Tomb

Welcome to Karviná, to the district of Doly. You are standing in front of a building that probably caught your eye at first glance with its unusual, even unsettling appearance. It is the Church of Saint Peter of Alcantara, but many of us know it simply and colloquially as the Leaning Church. Notice the feeling you get when you look at it. Does the building seem to lean slightly? You are right. This first impression is not a trick of your eyes but tangible evidence of the history of this place. This church is not just a religious building but a living symbol of how deeply people can interfere with the very substance of the earth, and how architecture responds to such interventions.

Let us now go back in time together to understand how this story began. The church you see before you was built in its present form between 1756 and 1759. At that time the Baroque style was flourishing here, bringing a new aesthetic and spiritual level to the area. It is important to know, however, that this masonry building was not the first church here. On its site, or nearby, there originally stood an older wooden church. It was this transition from timber to masonry that marked the flourishing of the community and the ambitions of the time. The high point of this first stage was the consecration of the church in 1759, led by Bishop Philipp Gotthard Schaffgotsch. Imagine that festive moment, when people gathered in this area — much quieter then than the later industrial centre — to celebrate the completion of their new church.

Now turn your attention to the architecture itself and to what you can see right now. Look at the façade and take in the overall atmosphere of the building. Although the architects who designed it are unknown today, their work has survived the centuries, albeit in an unexpected form. The strongest element accompanying you now is that very tilt. The building has leaned by almost seven degrees. If you look closely, you will see how this imbalance affects the overall character of the building. It was not intended by the builders but was the result of intensive black coal mining in the surrounding area. Undermining — the process in which empty spaces form below the surface where coal has been extracted — caused significant subsidence. The ground beneath the church simply shifted, and the building moved with it.

When you look up at the roof and the tower, notice its particular shape. What you see today is not the original form of the tower. In 1957 a destructive windstorm hit the area and damaged the tower so badly that it had to be taken down. It was then replaced by a pyramidal roof, which gives the church its present silhouette. It is a reminder that this building has had to contend not only with forces from the depths of the earth but also with the elements from the sky. So that the church could continue to stand safely and serve people, a general repair and thorough structural stabilisation were completed in 1995. But work on the building does not end there. If you notice the state of the façade and roof, you should know that in 2026 another major reconstruction began, including renovation of the façade, complete replacement of the roofing and repair of the adjacent tomb.

This place is linked with the names of people who left their mark on it. Besides the bishop Schaffgotsch already mentioned, the history of this place is associated with names such as Jan František Larisch and Ernest Dostal. They were people who, in different periods, influenced life in this area and helped maintain the continuity of faith and culture in an environment constantly transformed by the mining industry. It is fascinating to think how these people saw their relationship to a building that slowly but relentlessly began to tilt before their eyes.

Now I would like to invite you to a curiosity that may not be visible at first glance but that carries a secret of the past. If you went inside, you would find a medieval stone baptismal font in a corner of the church. It is a fascinating object, because it comes from the original wooden church that stood here before the Baroque building. This font is like a bridge between eras. While the building itself has changed, tilted and been repaired, this one stone element has remained the same for centuries, reminding us that even in times of great change there are things that stay firm and unchanged.

It is precisely this combination of stability and instability that makes the Church of Saint Peter of Alcantara a unique place. Thanks to its tilt of almost seven degrees, the building is listed in the Czech Book of Records and Curiosities as the most leaning church in the country. It is a paradoxical distinction. What was technically a problem and a threat of collapse has become the most striking feature and a symbol of the whole region. The church has thus become a monument to the transformation of the landscape. It shows us how powerfully human activity can affect the surface of the planet and how architecture must adapt to new, often unpredictable conditions.

As you stand before this building, try to imagine the journey it has been through. From a wooden church, through Baroque glory, alarming subsidence, storms and modern repairs, to its present status as a record holder. It is a story of perseverance, of the struggle against gravity and of the ability to find beauty even in what is clearly wrong or crooked.

Before we say goodbye and you move on, I recommend spending a moment quietly watching the line of the roof against the sky. Try to realise that every centimetre of this tilt tells of thousands of tonnes of mined coal that once powered the industrial revolution. This church is essentially a petrified record of the work of thousands of miners who worked deep beneath your feet.

Thank you for taking this short journey through the history of the Leaning Church with me. I now invite you to explore more of the Doly district and discover other hidden stories of this fascinating region. I wish you a pleasant onward journey and many new experiences. Goodbye.