Church of St. Vintíře Dobrá Voda near Hartmanice
The South Bohemian region and especially Šumava has a lot of specifics and you can see and experience many unique things here. One of the peculiarities and even unique in the world is the church of St. Vintír in Dobrá Voda near Hartmanice with its glass altar. It is the only church in the world dedicated to this saint. German Count Gunther - Czech Vintíř, lived at the turn of the 10th -11. century. At the age of 45, he became a monk of the Benedictine order and later lived in a hermitage on the Březník hill in Šumava. He was a prominent missionary and diplomat of his time.
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Interesting facts Church of St. Vintíře Dobrá Voda near Hartmanice
The Baroque church was built in 1734 by Baron František Karel Villani. You can find it between Sušice and Kašperské Hory and its glass altar is unparalleled in the world. It weighs 5 tons, is 4.5 m wide and over 3 m high. From the so-called forest glass, which with its color evokes the color of the peat bogs of the Šumava streams, there is also the Stations of the Cross, a statue of St. Vintíře, reading desk (ambon) and nativity scene. The author of this amazing project is the artist and glassmaker Vladěna Tesařová from Dobrá Voda.
The church, on the site of which stood a wooden chapel, was, together with the well, an important place of pilgrimage. Believers from the Czech and Bavarian borders gathered here. Vintíř's grave in Břevnov became an equally important place. The historian Balbín mentions that there were three hundred miraculous healings.
During the socialist era, the church, like most church buildings standing in the border zone, was demoted to stables and military warehouses. Nowadays, the faiths from both tents border again serve. Near the church you will find the museum of Dr. Simon Adler, a Jewish rabbi, where tickets for a tour of the church interior are also on sale.
In the vicinity, Vintíř's name also bears the chapel on Březník and the rock on its top, or Vintíř's path leading from Niederalteich to Blatná, which connects the sacral buildings of southern Bohemia.
If you are a lover of Šumava and its monuments, you certainly know the book Šumava - nature, history, life, from where you can draw information not only about Dobrá Voda, but also suggestions for other interesting stops in this beautiful region.
Author: Ivana Dondová