The Pilgrimage church of Saint John of Nepomuk at Zelená Hora is by not means the largest church that I have ever visited. In fact, it size is surprisingly, appropriate for the local population. Back then, churches would be built as a statement of something and it would not be surprising to see church built to massive proportions, even going beyond what is even needed to support the local population. A lot of these giant churches eventually became landmarks and even tourist destinations on to themselves. Then there is this church at Zelená Hora. What sets this church apart is the unique design of the church, it is said to be between gothic and baroque, which is where the trends in church building were going to. For me, the baroque features of this church are more prominent compared to the gothic ones.

What made this church unique for me was that the main church building is at the center of a ring cloister. The cloister in church buildings are usually attached to the main church building. Naturally, to facilitate travel from the church and to the cloister. In the case of the church of Saint John of Nepomuk, the ring cloister surrounds the main building and yet doesn’t touch it anywhere. This is the first time I have seen a design like this and I think it is a very interesting design. The ring cloister itself is in the shape of a ten pointed star, with the star shaped church in the center. The cloister itself has five chapels around it. These were simple chapels and they are nothing compared to the rest of the design of the cloister. We were going around the cloister waiting for the church to open and we looking at the chapels, but they weren’t really that interesting.

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