Via Sacra - Czech cycling pilgrimage route

Eight stations of the Via Sacra are located in the Czech Republic, in North Bohemia. For example, the Braunau monastery belongs to the most important sights of the Hradec Králové region and is situated amidst nature of sandstone formations and baroque monuments. The pilgrimage church of the Visitation of Mary in Hejnice/Haindorf originates from a Marian legend: a seriously ill woman and her child were miraculously healed because the family father had followed the instruction of an angel and placed the image of the Virgin Mary on a linden tree, carved by a woodcarver from Zittau. The tree and later its stump with the statue of Mater Formosa (“The noble graceful mother”) quickly became a pilgrimage site. From 1211 onwards, the figure was covered by increasingly larger chapels and churches. Haindorf became a significant pilgrimage site and was often called Bohemian Mariazell. Currently, the church at the foot of the Jizera Mountains is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Bohemia.