31/08/2022 - Stage 20 from Kridla to Kutna Hora, Czech Republic (91 kilometers)

Our stage today to Kutna Hora doesn't have as many kilometers, so we could sleep a little longer. On the way, we stopped at the UNESCO World Heritage site - the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk at Zelena Hora. The complex was built from 1719 to 1722 in honor of Saint John of Nepomuk, the Bohemian priest and martyr, and the patron of the sacramental seal. The center of the complex is the church, which was built in the shape of a circle. Surrounding it is an almost circular cloister. Currently, there is a lot of construction going on here and the church was closed, so we could only admire it from the outside. We continued a few kilometers until we reached Kutna Hora and arrived at 1 pm. We stayed in a very spacious room with a private bathroom in a villa located just a 10-minute walk from the city center. The best part is the view from the balcony of the St. Barbara's Cathedral. In the afternoon, we took a short walk to the city center. Kutna Hora, also known as Kuttenberg in German, is considered the silver treasure chest of the country and was crucial for the prosperity of the Bohemian Kingdom. The historic city center with the St. Barbara's Cathedral and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We started our city tour at the cathedral with a detailed interior and exterior visit. This extraordinary Gothic church symbolizes the power and importance of the mining town, where silver ore was once found. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners. The construction took 500 years and even here, the city's connection to mining and minting cannot be denied, as we saw fitting frescoes, figures, and coins. We continued to stroll through the empty streets of the city, discovering interesting facades, cobblestone streets, and the stone fountain. We finished our discovery tour for today with a nocturnal view of the cathedral. The next morning, we visited two more churches in the Sedlec district. The first one is perhaps one of the most bizarre churches in the world - the Sedlec Ossuary, also known as the Bone Church. From the outside, it looks quite ordinary. However, the interior of the ossuary, the bone house, consists of thousands of bones. They are bleached, carved, and artfully arranged. Five minutes away is the Baroque and Gothic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The original church from the 15th century was converted into this light-filled cathedral on the site of an old Cistercian monastery. In Kutna Hora, it is perhaps the church that appears the most ordinary.