Svatý Antonínek Chapel

The chapel is located on the hilly edge of the Vizovická výština, 14 kilometers south of Uherský Hradiště, on the border of the districts of Uherské Hradiště and Hodonin. This hill has served as an important landmark in the past and, according to archaeological views, could have previously been a pagan godhouse and a Slavic burial ground. Even before I was placed here in the seventeenth century, a very old cross stood on top of the verb. People's tradition remembers that in the ninth century, Saint Cyril and Methodius passed through here on their way to the Velegrad.

The beginning of the chapel dates back to 1662, when Prince Hartmann z Lichtenštejna, owner of the island estate, requested permission from the Bishop of Olomouc for construction. In space-national faith, he hoped that a new chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony Paduan would avert the unusual weather and adversity that prevailed in the region and threatened the harvest. After several urgens he received his consent in 1668 when the basic stone was laid in the spring of the year in the presence of the Rector of the Jesuit College in Uherské Hradiště and the captain of the island estate. The construction was completed two years later, in 1670. The inventaries of 1672 capture the richness of the chapel: a silver chalice with a patent, ciborium from the blatant church, portatile with the remains of the saints on a fixed altar and six wooden candlesticks.

Based on robots, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages - Blatiny, Ostrožská Lhoty and Noise participated. At the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was another expansion. In 1696-1697, a temple ship was added to the original eight-sided rotunda, in which an Italian stucco called Rezzy (probably Rossi da Lucca) worked, which also produced a new painting of St. Anthony for the chapel. There was a pilgrimage house next to the chapel for refreshments of pilgrims. The chapel was restored in the middle of the eighteenth century. The Blatnik priest Jiří Hnátek initiated a reconstruction in 1748-49, where a tower was built over the presbytery and a water spring was opened near the top of the hill. This discovery had miraculous effects - the number of heals increased and the interest in this pilgrimage site increased. In 1771 the chapel already had two altars: one dedicated holy family and the other fourteen holy helpers.

The end of the eighteenth century brought the bond to a severe test. The reforms of emperor Joseph II led to the gradual destruction of pilgrimage places. In 1784 the archbishop's consistor was allowed to dispose of the chapel, and two years later, the chapel was abolished and desecrated from the governor's decree. The equipment was dismantled for poor churches and the building itself was sold to Jewish Sarah Dobrušková, who wanted to use it as building material. The chapel was left in ruins - without wooden choir, without doors and windows, without roof and ceilings. The cattle walked freely in it.

The chapel was restored only during the wars of Naples and after they were completed. In 1810 Martin Straka from Ostrožský Suburb built a new cross at the chapel. After negotiations from 1812-1815 and the audience with Emperor Franz I, Blatnici managed to regain the ravaged chapel. She purchased it for 2000 gold from voluntary contributions and undertook to repair it on 30 May 1815 and maintain it forever. The chapel was consecrated until 16 June 1819, after long and financially demanding work, which was financed by the contribution of surrounding municipalities and even from Slovakia. At that time, he had the keys to the chapel, a blatnik vicar, to whom the creditor's office also seemed to compensate.

Today Svatý Antonínek stands as a protected cultural monument of the Czech Republic and remains open year round. Visitors can observe its baroque architectural elements and feel the atmosphere of an old pilgrimage tradition that has accompanied it for more than three and a half centuries.