Minor Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Svatý Kopeček - Churches, chapels, monasteries in the Czech Republic 3.

Location: Svatý Kopeček (Olomouc), Central Moravia

The Minor Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or shortly Basilica of Our Lady is located about 5 km from the city of Olomouc, on the top of the Holy Hill, Svatý Kopeček. 

In the 17th century a local wine dealer, promised that when he got rich he would build a church for the Virgin Mary, who appeared to him in his dreams. One day he found out that this hill was the place from his dream. In 1629 he started to build a small chapel with the approval of the Premonstrates Order, the land owners. The chapel was consecrated four years later. In 1642, the Swedes came to Olomouc and the chapel was destroyed too, but in a very short time, it was rebuilt. The Holy Hill was such a popular place among the local people, that the Church decided to build a larger new church using the plans of Giovanni Pietro Tencalla. The new building was consecrated in 1679 by Olomouc bishop Karel II of Lichtenstein. In 1748 Queen Mary Theresa visited the pilgrimage place, 36 years later Kopeček got the privileges of the "Small basilica". During the rule of King Joseph II. the Order was abolished, but in the 19th century the church was returned to the monks (nuns). After the World War II. the Basilica was confiscated by the state, and the order was abolished again, but in 1990 the premonstrates got back the church and they are the owner of the place now. 

The Baroque pilgrimage church with a two-tower frontage is a distinctive landmark of the landscape around Olomouc. Adjoining the church building, there are side wings with an attic carrying statues of 12 apostles and two saints - Saint Sebastian.and Saint Roch. Behind the church, there are a cloister and the Chapel of the Virgin Mary. The ceiling of the single-naved interior is vaulted over by a massive dome. The nave is flanked by side chapels. Numerous local and foreign painters, sculptors and plasterers (Jan Kryštof Handke, Johann Spillenberg, Joseph Winterhalter) participated in the interior decoration of the church. This monumental church was promoted by Pope John Paul II. to Minor Basilica in May 1995, when he visited the church.