Hrabyně – Memorial, Pilgrimage Church and Historic Sites

Hrabyně combines historical remembrance, religious tradition and views of the landscape. The town therefore appeals to different interests: You can engage with the history of the Second World War, discover Baroque ecclesiastical architecture, trace cultural and historical heritage or explore the natural surroundings by bicycle.

A Memorial with Several Historical Perspectives

The National Memorial to the Second World War is the focal point. It is the central memorial of its kind in the Czech Republic. The exhibition “Těžká léta 1938–1945” examines these years from more than just a military perspective. It addresses military and political events as well as the lives of civilians, culture and the economy. This means that its scope extends beyond individual acts of war and also encompasses the social context of the period.

The site includes a symbolic cemetery with 13,000 plaques bearing the names of the fallen. The large number of plaques gives remembrance a clearly recognizable spatial expression. For your visit, it is also important to distinguish between the following: Hrabyně has a 6 km blue-and-red-marked wheelchair route; full accessibility is explicitly stated for the visitor centre of the National Memorial and does not automatically apply to the entire site.

Pilgrimage Church and Traces of Local History

The pilgrimage church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary stands in the centre of Hrabyně. The Baroque church was completed around 1730 and consecrated in 1761. These two dates place the building within the town’s history and make it a cultural subject in its own right alongside the more recent commemoration at the National Memorial.

A statue of Saint John of Nepomuk was erected in Hrabyňská alej in 1777. Another historical reference is the Zámecká míčovna, which bears the name Belvedere and, because of its later use, is also called sýpka. It is the only surviving structure of the Hrabyně chateau grounds. Its significance lies in its original function, its age and its connections to the history of the municipality and the Opava region. The different names are themselves part of the object’s recorded history.

Views and Natural Surroundings

From one of the two wedge-shaped sections of the National Memorial, views extend in good visibility as far as Praděd, Lysá hora and Poland. This specific viewpoint complements the historical experience with a landscape perspective. Thanks to its appealing natural surroundings and the National Memorial to the Second World War, Hrabyně is a destination for cyclists from the wider surrounding area. A cycling trip through Hrabyně follows a local road along the green hiking trail markings to the grounds of the Rehabilitační ústav.

Traditional Pilgrimage on Hrabyňský kopec

The religious side of Hrabyně includes the traditional pilgrimage to Milostná Panna Maria on Hrabyňský kopec.

Discover More Destinations

If you would like to compare other destinations besides Hrabyně, you can also find Háj Ve Slezsku, Sosnová, Nové Lublice, Mikolajice, Ludgeřovice, Bělá, Hlubočec, Služovice.

For the higher-level travel overview: Opava District.