kaple svaté Anny (Černé Budy) Chapel

The Chapel of Saint Anne stands on the northwestern edge of the town of Sázava, in the municipal district of Černé Budy. You will find it on the slopes of Veletín hill, which is referred to in some sources also as Beletín, just before the cemetery wall. The present structure dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The chapel lies beside an ancient road that connected the Sázava Monastery with Stříbrná Skalice and further on to Prague. It is the shortest possible route to Stříbrná Skalice. From the monastery in Černé Budy it first ascends to the Chapel of Saint Anne and from there continues along the ridge of Krkavčí Rocks. This ridge separates the valley of the Sázava River and the Nučický valley, also called the Vlkančický stream. The chapel is already marked on the first military map, which was surveyed between 1764 and 1768.

There are no reliable sources for earlier forms of the chapel, and no archaeological survey has ever been conducted here. A Sázava monk, the continuator of the chronicler Kosmas, does mention a Chapel of Saint Anne in Sázava, which was founded in the twelfth century by Abbot Silvestr of the Sázava Monastery. However, we do not know where that chapel stood, and it cannot be reliably identified with the present location. The neighbouring cemetery with the chapel are not directly related; they were only established in 1934.

The structure has a rectangular ground plan and is oriented from north to south. The roof is covered with tiles, and the gable of the facade is protected by barge boards. On the roof ridge sits a hexagonal turret with a metal bulbous dome and a cross at the apex. Inside hangs a small bell. Such a turret is called a sanctus bell tower. Architecturally, the chapel combines baroque layout with a classical facade, which was quite common in Bohemia at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Alongside the typically baroque sanctus bell tower, we thus find a facade with almost no ornamentation, only with two suggested pilasters on the front.

The whitewashed interior is simple. There is an altar with a mural image of the Virgin Mary and wooden crosses. On the ceiling is an inscription which restorers renewed during the last repair in 1998.

The chapel has been a cultural monument since 1987. It belongs to the Benedictine Abbey of the Virgin Mary and Saint Jerome in Emauzy in Prague. Regular services are not held in it today. However, the bell from the sanctus bell tower still serves as a death bell during funerals at the neighbouring cemetery.