Provodov






Photographs: Touristic info centre Zlinsky Kraj, Wannes Sambaer

Pilgrimage site

The first mention of the pilgrimage site of Provodov (locally called “Na malenisku“) dates from the beginning of the 18th century and it is necessary to credit this to the source of medicinal waters, which apparently appeared to the wife of the local miller. The miller’s wife suffered from an eye illness and was healed after washing with water from the well. When the owner of the Luhačovice estate, Count Serenyi, was also healed in the same way, he had a chapel to the Blessed Virgin of the Snows built above the spring (1735).

Since that time, the Provodov chapel has become the goal of many pilgrims from near and far, which continued even after its reconstruction into a small pilgrimage church in Baroque style in 1750, which stands to this day. The interior of the church is simple. Above the altar hangs a venerated image of the Blessed Virgin nursing, a very singular subject in our lands. Above the sacristy hangs an image of the Blessed Virgin of the Snows. The Way of the Cross was designed by Emil Brendl (from 1947), opposite the sacristy is the side altar of the Sacred Heart (from 1919). 52 steps lead to the entrance to the church. Nearby stands a small chapel with the spring bubbling up under the main altar, in the forest not far from the church leads a Way of the Cross. A spa once stood here, but it was gone by the 19th century.