Sousoší svatého Jana Nepomuckého s anděly, svatého Floriána a svaté Barbory Sculptural group

Welcome to the beautiful city of Mnichovo Hradiště. Right now, thanks to your headphones, the gateway to the rich past of this place is opening up for you. You're standing right in front of one of the most important art treasures you can see here. Look around you and pay attention to what's right in front of your eyes. You're standing on a ramp that leads to a majestic castle, and right here, in this place, this baroque sculpture is located. It is a work that carries the soul of the old world and which for centuries forms part of the landscape of this city. Feel the atmosphere of a place where history meets everyday life.

Now, together with your imagination, let's go back deep into the past. Imagine a time when the world around you seemed completely different. We're in the middle of the eighteenth century, about 1740. It was an era of Baroque, a period that loved movement, emotion and grandeur. It was in these years that this sculpture was created to decorate the path to the castle and remind everyone around it of divine protection and spiritual values. The creator of this work was sculptor J. Jelínek. Although his name may not be known to every bystander today, his work here remains a silent witness at the time when art was created with great patience and respect for craft. Jelinek has inserted all of his ability to capture the baroque spirit that you see today in the overall effect of these figures.

Now pay attention to the very characters that stand before you. You know what you can see here when you look at the work more carefully. The dominance of the whole sculpture is Saint John Nepomucký, surrounded by angels who give him a sacred touch with their presence. He has Saint Florian and Saint Barbara standing next to him. These figures aren't random here. Each one bears its own meaning and a story that was very important to the people of the eighteenth century. Even though we look at them today as art creatures, at that time these characters were living symbols of protection and faith. Feel how these characters are connected to each other, how they form one whole, trying to control the space around them. The baroque style that you see in them is constantly striving for dynamics, to make them seem to be moving, even if they are carved out of solid material.

When you look at this sculpture, you might be wondering how much has changed over these years. And indeed, the history of this work is full of twists. It's a story not only about art, but also about trying to preserve it. Since 1958, this sculpture has been officially protected as a cultural monument. This means that the state and the city are aware of its immense value. But the way to preserve beauty has not always been easy. In the years between 1958 and 1962, the sculptor Pretzlík tried to rebuild and the restaurant. But it is interesting and perhaps a little sad that this work has never been completed. To date, in the sculpture, we see traces of this incomplete effort to restore it.

This unfinished business leads us to another important question as to how this work is preserved in time. If you look at the state of some details, you might realize that time saves nothing. In 1971 the state of this monument was described as bad. That was the moment when we had to think about how to save this baroque gem from another disintegration. It is precisely this that lies in the great responsibility that we all have when we visit such works - to realise their fragility.

Now, I want to tell you one interesting thing, which in the sculpture is a mystery. Maybe when you look at the characters of St. Florian and St. Barbara, you think they look very strange or you feel something else in them. And you're right. Because what you see here is not the original statues that Master Jelinek created. The originals of these two characters are now somewhere else, stored in another place to be protected from external influences. So what stands before you is a kind of reflection of history, a substitute that allows us to imagine the original grandeur of the entire sculpture. It's a fascinating idea that you're looking at something that's both original and replaced.

You stand before a work that has survived centuries, survived incomplete repairs and periods when it was not cared enough. It's a symbol of art endurance. Although the state of the monument is threatened at different times, she still stands here, on this ramp, and reminds us of our own roots and history of Munich's Hradiste.

I hope this brief insight into the past has enriched you. Before you go on your journey, I suggest you spend a few more moments simply observing. Try to imagine what this sculpture would look like in 1740, when it was new, clean and full of baroque glare. Then look again at him as he is today - as an old friend who has his scars, but still holds his dignity.

Thank you for spending this moment with us. We wish you a nice walk through the town and other sights waiting for you here. Have a good time and enjoy another discovery of the beauty of Munich's Hradic.