Příbram II - Svatá Hora, bazilika Nanebevzetí Panny Marie

Holy Mountain with its unmistakable panorama has been welcoming for more than 330 years visitors to both the place of pilgrimage and the famous royal upper town of Příbram which is located at the foot of the Brdy Mountains 60 km southwest of Prague. The oldest written document about Příbram dates from 1216. During the reign of Charles IV, Archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice had a stone castle built in the middle of this estate on the site of a wooden fortress which later became the foundation of today’s Chateau Ernestinum. At that time Příbram had a Gothic church of St. James, and Arnošt of Pardubice also built a church of St. John, a suburban hospital and a wooden palisade surrounding the city. His name is also connected also with a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and the chapel on the Holy Mountain. The rule of Prague archbishops over the city and the manor was ended during the Hussite period, and Příbram became a royal property. The town was often put in pledge. After many complaints from the citizens regarding the town’s acquisitive owners, Příbram was promoted to a royal upper town, and became in 1597 a privilege of Emperor Rudolf II. as a reaction to former economic development of the town in silver mining. The first miracle took place on the Holy Mountain in 1632 and marked the beginning of the pilgrimages. In 1647, a year before the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, a new element entered the Příbram region – the Jesuits of Březnice and, together with them, the cult of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Mountain. The until then little-known chapel above Příbram on the Holy Mountain hill was since 1653 being rebuilt by the Jesuits into a magnificent residence. It was gradually becoming the most famous Bohemian place of pilgrimage and an important center of the Marian cult in Europe. Many well-known artists took part in its decoration. The basilica with the Chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and other chapels is located on the terrace with a balustrade decorated with statues. The lower part of the complex shows cloisters with rich painting and stucco decoration, and four closed and nine open chapels. Holy Mountain is connected to Příbram by a staircase first mentioned in 1685 which was later roofed. The pride of the basilica is a statuette of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Mountain, and the main altar made entirely of silver. The coronation of the statue of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Mountain in 1732 was a new impetus for the pilgrimage, and the coronation festivities have since become a tradition. The Josephine reforms however reduced the pilgrimage. Even before that, in 1773, the Jesuit order was abolished, and the administration of the Holy Mountain complex was handed over to the provosts. In 1861, Holy Mountain was given to the administration of the Redemptorists who stayed there until 1950. In 1903, the church was repaired and its oldest part, at that time still without decoration, was decorated with stucco. After completing an extensive reconstruction, Holy Mountain was in 1905 upgraded to a minor basilica. The celebration of the promotion was magnificent and corresponded to the importance of the title and the fact that it was the first papal basilica in Austria-Hungary. In 1950, the Czechoslovakian monasteries were abolished. The spiritual administration of the Holy Mountain complex was again entrusted to the Redemptorists on 24th March 1990 and at the same time it became the seat of the order's leadership in the Czech Republic. In 1993, the ruined stairs of the Holy Mountain were restored. In 2005, the basilica received significant gifst: new altar, puplipt and other liturgical objects from the studio of the academic sculptor Otmar Oliva. At Christmas 2007, a new choir organ, built by the organist Vladimír Šlajch, was ceremoniously blessed.

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