kostel sv. Jiří (Nemanice) Church

St. George's Church in Lucina is the story of a forgotten place. The extinct parish church stood in a small village of Lucina west of Nemanic on the border with Germany. After 1945 and especially with the creation of a strictly guarded border zone, from which the population had to leave, the church was gradually abandoned and shot down in the 1970s. Today, his demolished remains, partially restored and consecrated, are the place of memory.

The story of the church goes deep into the past. At least since 1688 there was a chateau chapel dedicated to St. George in Lucina. Lučina belonged to the German diocese for a long time - until 1782 she was joined to the Waldmünchen parish, then she became part of the parish non-manic. A new church was built on the site of the old chapel in 1786. The tower was to be built gradually: it was built in 1753 and completed in 1775. In the same year 1786 a parish was established in Lucina, which was managed in addition to the village itself by the neighbouring villages of the Pípor, Pila and Liskovec. In 1906 the church was newly painted and served its parish until the second half of the twentieth century.

Fate changed after World War II. In the early 1950s, the entire population of Lucina had to leave due to the creation of a border zone. Between 1951 and 1964, a border unit was dislocated here. In February 1956 came heavy military technology, the houses were demolished. The church remained "looted and damaged," and later was shot - the exact date is not certain, sources indicate the years 1959 to 1975.

The building was a one-boat church, a baroque on a rectangular floor plan, crowned by a prism tower with an onion beating and a cross. The ship was seven to eleven meters with a flat ceiling. The presbytery closed with square sacristy on the sides. Eight high stained windows illuminated the interior. The church had three entrances: the main to the boat to the village, the lateral to the Czech and Bavarian sacristy - a division that reflected the language composition of the parish.

The main altar was decorated by the painting of St. George by the domestic painter Wimmer, who preserved himself and is located in the church in Nemanika. It was also possible to save the image of the Mother of God with Jesus (also in Nemanice) and a copy of the painting of the Beautiful Virgin Mary Grafenriedska from the first quarter of the 13th century (now at the Waldmünchen Museum).

After decades of oblivion, in 2000 a association dedicated to the restoration of the church was founded. The project "Rebirth of St. George's Church in Lucina - Grafenried" took place in 2002 on the initiative of Hans Laubmeiера, a native of the nearby Pila baptized in the church. The funding was provided by the disposal fund of the Euroregion "Objective 3 ', the investor was the municipality Nemanice. The ruins were discovered and constructed in 2011. During the unveiling was found the foundation stone of the tower with the year 1775, three crosses and a glass cup with seven coins from the time of Marie Theresa. The exposed masonry has been partially supplemented, a new muse of stone blocks from the ruins has been inserted in the broken altar mensa. A copy of the beautiful Virgin Mary image is placed in the altar niche. The remains were consecrated on the 28th April 2012.

Today, the ruins of the church stand as a commemorative place of the extinct world. It is an important story for experts in the history of the border area, which is affected by the fate of the tens of thousands of people who have been directly touched by the Central European border.