Hromadný hrob padlých vojáků v bitvě u Chlumce roku 1813 War memorial

The mass grave of soldiers from the Battle of Chlumce and Prestana is the largest war grave in the Czech Republic, located in a landscape near the village of Prestanov in Ústí nad Labem district. This monument was founded in 1835 by Count Joseph Westphalen of Fürstenberg and serves as a piety place for approximately 10,000 fallen soldiers who were victims of the Battle of Chlumce and Sprestano in August 1813. The area is protected as a cultural monument and is part of the landscape monument zone.

The Battle of Chlumce and Prestana took place on 29 and 30 August 1813, when the Allied armies (Russia, Prussia and Austria) were attacked by the first French army corps under the leadership of General Dominik Vandamm following the defeat in the Battle of Dresden. The French tried to infiltrate the Czech Republic, but were stopped by the Russian Choir of General Alexander I. Ostermann-Tolstoy at Prestano. The Russian guards have maintained their positions throughout the first day of battle, allowing allied reinforcements to arrive. The next day, the situation turned to the benefit of the allies when the Prussian Corps of General Friedrich Kleist unexpectedly discovered in the Kclířov Pass, leading to the siege and subsequent defeat of the French troops. The total losses on both sides reached around 20,000 fallen and wounded.

After the battle, fallen soldiers were buried right where they died. Due to the need for a rapid burial to prevent disease spread, graves were mostly shallow. Over time, however, the remains came back to the surface, which was considered undignified by Count Josef Klement of Westphalen, the owner of the Bohemian estate. In 1835 he set aside a forest plot north of the future monument and had his subjects systematically searched the surrounding forests and fields. The skeletal remains found from shallow graves were exhumed, taken into common space in the forest near Přestán and stored in a mass grave. According to period estimates, the last resting place was found by approximately 10,000 soldiers of all nationalities.

The battlefield has become a unique landscape of military architecture and sculpture. On the scene of the battle were built monumental monuments celebrating individual armies and commanders, such as the Prussian monument of 1817, an Austrian monument dedicated to General Colloredo-Mansfeld (1825) and a Russian monument with a statue of the goddess Niké (1835-1837). In later years, the French memorial (1911) and the Jubilee memorial (1913) were added.

The area of the mass grave is conceived as a landscape unit connecting small architecture with natural elements. Access to the grave itself is provided by the road from the main road I / 13, which was modified by the slag surface in 1933 and later paved. This path is supplemented by other accompanying objects such as stone pylon from the original construction of the Russian monument and wooden winning gate, which was installed with financial support of the Krupské Orthodox village.

The dominant feature of the complex is a stone mound of a mass grave made up of an irregular pile of massive, unworked basalt boulders. At the top of the mothla is a erected Latin cross made of stone columns and commemorative plate with German inscription: "Hier ruhen die in den nahen Wäldern in neuer Zeit noch aufgefundenen Schädel und Gebeine von den an den Schlachttagen des Jahres 1813 Gebliebenen. Sie ruhen in Frieden. 1835" (Czech: "Here they rest in the surrounding forests recently found remains of the deceased from the war days of 1813. They rest in peace.").

Today, the mass grave of the soldiers from the Battle of Chlumce and Prestana is an important cultural monument that resembles the bloody clashes of 1813. The place serves as a monument and is a dignified place to remember the victims of war. Visiting this grave offers an opportunity to reflect on the history and importance of peace as well as on the appreciation of the architectural and cultural heritage of this area.