12th day - July 20: Day visit to the Moravian capital Olomouc

After the morning routine, I cycled the last 13km to the former Moravian capital Olomouc. After visiting a cafe to charge my devices and write on my blog, I rode to the Evangelical Church around noon, which was almost inaccessible due to construction fences along the Morava river. Eventually, I found the doorbell and the gate to the parsonage opened immediately. The pastor was ready to share some stories.

The modern church building is architecturally interesting. On the ground floor, there are large rooms, almost halls, for community work (photo). There is plenty of space for the Sunday church cafe, along with a fully equipped community kitchen. There is a comfortable seating area for the youth (photo). However, the main church hall is on the first floor, which can be reached through a built-in lift (photos). I have never seen an elevator in a church before.

The congregation in Olomouc and its surroundings has a total of around 600 members, making it one of the "large" Evangelical church communities in the Czech Republic. Every Sunday - except during the holiday season - between 70-80 visitors come. There is children's and youth work, which is naturally done by volunteers. Sometimes there are joint projects and concerts with the Evangelical Conservatory, a secondary school, in Olomouc. There are also 4-5 volunteer cantors in this congregation who provide musical accompaniment for worship services. There is also a small brass band. Just last week, a children's camp was held with about 30 children. The practical aid for Ukraine was also mentioned as a challenge in Olomouc. Two women with children live in the integrated parsonage. There is a group of around 20 volunteers involved in the Evangelical Ukrainian aid in the congregation. The second challenge mentioned here is the financial change when the Evangelical communities have to completely finance themselves from 2030. It was also interesting to learn that the congregation holds a faith course called 'Alpha' every 3-4 years, and adults often choose to be baptized during this course.

In general, we had a very good conversation. The pastor also proudly showed me the confirmation board (photo). After an extensive tour, the pastor offered me to stay in the youth area, which I gladly accepted since the afternoon would have been very exhausting with temperatures around 35 degrees.

Because the beautiful historic city has some special sights, I took a longer tour of the city. The impressive Gothic cathedral (photo) where Moravian kings were crowned and the striking Russian Orthodox Church (photo) within sight of the Evangelical Church are among the interesting highlights. The town hall is also architecturally interesting. However, the absolute highlight is the Astronomical Clock on the west side of the town hall (photo). Just about 100 meters from the town hall is the over 30-meter-high and monumental Holy Trinity Column, a historical plague column (photo), which has been a World Heritage Site since 2000. It was erected in 1716 as a thanksgiving for the end of the "Great Plague" in the city. Olomouc has a total of 7 different historic fountains. However, I found the modern Arion Fountain on the other side of the town hall, which was built in 2002, to be more interesting. The background for this fountain is the ancient legend of the Greek poet, singer, and lute player Arion, whom a dolphin saved from the waves of the sea after being attracted by his song (photo). It is a beautiful sight to behold. After a short visit to the "Museum of Modern Art" with interesting cubist and surrealist art works, I returned to the community center, had dinner, and wrote on my blog. Meanwhile, the church custodian, who is also the leader of the brass band and spoke very good German, came. He was very surprised by my visit and to my delight, he played the hymn "Großer Gott wir loben dich" from the church tower into the evening sky above Olomouc. We discussed the history and community of the Bohemian Brethren for a long time, and eventually, I rolled out my sleeping bag in the youth area.