kaple svatého Josefa na Riebelsbergu Chapel

The Chapel of Saint Joseph stands on the summit of Riebelsberg, a small hill on the Špitálské předměstí in Kadaň. The hill lies within the extensive garden of the Elizabethan convent of the Holy Family and rises above the original valley of the Bystřický stream, otherwise also known as the Prunéřovský stream.

The name Ruhelsberg has been documented for this location since 1465. Later, until the middle of the twentieth century, it was called Am Riebelsberg, or in Czech, Na kopečku.

From 1465 until 1723, there stood here what was called the Vogelstang. It was a wooden structure with a carved stone set upright, and on its peak a wooden bird was placed. Every Whitsunday, the citizens of Kadaň would gather here and shoot at it. This pastime was called shooting at the bird. It served as target practice with crossbows and hand cannons, and later with muskets. What the Kadaň Vogelstang looked like is shown in a veduta by Jan Willenberg from 1602.

In 1748, the hill became part of the emerging complex of the Elizabethan convent. At that time, a spring was discovered at the foot of the hill, which was then called the spring of Saint Adalrich. In 1853, an orphanage of Saint Joseph grew up in the vicinity of the convent. Today its grounds serve as the Home for the Elderly in Kadaň.

The chapel itself has stood on the summit since the second half of the nineteenth century. Adjoining it are a mortuary building and a small cemetery. The simple Neo-Gothic chapel is modestly furnished inside. You will find in it only two benches with kneelers, the remains of a cross, and a plaster statue of Saint Joseph with the Christ Child. The statue has no great artistic value. In 1933 it was restored by painter Rudolf Müller.

The first person buried in the small cemetery by the chapel in 1893 was Wenceslava Anna Wauriková. She was the mother superior of the Elizabethan sisters and came from Miltitz in Saxony. Burials took place there until the end of the nineteenth century.

The back wall of the convent garden, which borders the hill, is a remnant of suburban fortifications from the second half of the fifteenth century.

In the sixties of the twentieth century, a road thoroughfare was built in what is now Rokelská Street. During its construction, the rocky part of the hill was blasted away, and its original appearance was irretrievably changed as a result.