--- title: "The graves of the portáši in Valašská Bystřice" description: "Two baroque tombs with stone skulls in Valašská Bystřice. One recalls the portáš commander Jiří Křenek; discover their story and the corps' history." url: "https://zpusteven.cz/en/portasske-hroby" lang: "en" latitude: 49.4150836 longitude: 18.1095025 --- ![Two late baroque tombs in Valašská Bystřice - sandstone front slabs with volutes, inscriptions and stone skulls from which cast-iron crosses rise; candles on the gravel bed in front of them](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8319.avif) Cultural monument • Valašská Bystřice • by the church # The graves of the portáši The grave of the commander of a guard that watched the border between Moravia and Hungary for almost two centuries. - **The portáš corps:** 1638–1830 (192 years) - **At the head of the corps:** the fojt of Bystřice - **The tombs:** late 18th century - **Cultural monument:** since 1958 ## The grave of the portáš commander In front of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Valašská Bystřice, on the site of a graveyard long since closed, lie two stone tomb chests with skulls on crossed bones. Under one lies **Jiří Křenek, the fojt of Bystřice**, who commanded the portáši from 1769 to 1791; who lies under the other, the sources do not agree. ![A view from the pavement: two tomb chests with cross monuments on a gravel bed in the grass, a tall lime tree and the stone gate of the graveyard behind them](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8321.avif) The graves lie in the open on the grass by the church, enclosed by a low railing. Why come here ### The grave of the commander of the Wallachian guard Under one of the two stones by the church lies the **real grave** of the fojt and lieutenant Jiří Křenek - a place to honour the memory of the man who led the portáš corps into its finest years. When to come ### Any time - and best in July The graves are **freely accessible all year**. The second weekend in July belongs to the **Portášské slavnosti** - a procession, folklore and displays in period costume. What not to miss ### The inscription that speaks for the dead Both front slabs carry the same words from the biblical Book of Job: **“SMILVGTE SE NADEMNAV ASPON WI PRZATELE MOGI”** - have pity on me, at least you, my friends. ![Detail of a stone skull at the top of a tomb slab, a cast-iron cross rising from its crown](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8316.avif) ![A view from the church: an inscription carved into the sloping lid of the tomb chest, with PORTASKI LIEUTENANT legible in it](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8328.avif) ![A view from behind of both stone skulls with their cast-iron crosses, the houses and road of the village blurred behind](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8326.avif) ## The story of the portáši The emperor hired Wallachians to guard the mountains against other Wallachians. It lasted almost two hundred years. 1638: a rescript from Vienna ### A hundred loyal Wallachians on a restless border After 1620 there was no quiet in eastern Moravia: Wallachian revolts, raids from the Hungarian side, robbery in the mountains. Regular troops are of no use in country where a whole band can vanish. Only people who know the mountains as well as the brigands they are to catch can help. By a rescript of **31 March 1638** Emperor **Ferdinand III** ordered the Moravian land captain to hire **a hundred Wallachians**, taking care to tell the reliable from the unreliable. They formed a detachment of **“loyal Wallachians”**. From roughly the second half of the 17th century they came to be called **portáši**. The name comes from the Latin _porta_, a gate: they guarded the mountain passes that served as gates into the land and out of it. At first the corps was called up only as needed, mainly in the years of the Turkish and Kuruc raids. In **1717** it became a **standing security corps** with a lajtnant at its head. The service ### Five on duty, five at home - and kit at their own expense The corps was divided into **squads of ten men**, among others in **Valašská Bystřice**, Velké Karlovice, Rusava, Jasenná and Čeladná. Duty alternated: **five men in the field, five at home**, swapping after a month. Even those at home had to be ready. In quiet times the portáši watched over order and warned of fire risk in the cottages; later they caught deserters and escorted soldiers. When cattle plague spread, they closed the border. If a man they had seized resisted, they were allowed to kill him; they then answered to their superior, not to a court. On duty they slept in manorial buildings, in the villages, or in čartáky - wooden huts on the hilltops, of the kind that stood on today's [Čarták above Soláň](https://zpusteven.cz/en/cartak). They wore ordinary Wallachian dress **with no badges of rank**: they knew each other. They bought their weapons and kit themselves: a long-barrelled musket, a valaška axe and a sabre. For catching runaways they used a rope with a lead ball at the end. - **one squad:** 10 men - **on duty and at home:** 5 and 5 - **badges of rank:** 0 ![A stone statue of a portáš in Jasenná - a figure in a broad hat with a cloak over one shoulder and a long gun in hand, on a stone plinth](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Jasenn%C3%A1,_socha_port%C3%A1%C5%A1e.jpg) The monument to the portáši in Jasenná - one of the villages with a squad of its own. Foto: [Palickap, Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jasenn%C3%A1,%5Fsocha%5Fport%C3%A1%C5%A1e.jpg), [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) The Křeneks ### A fojt from Bystřice at the head of the corps In **1769** the portáši came to be led by **Jiří Křenek, the fojt of Valašská Bystřice**. His time is described as **the finest period of the whole corps** - and the Křenek family of Bystřice gave the portáši more men than any other: two lieutenants, a sergeant and corporals. The fojt was the first man in the village - its head, its manager, the go-between for the lord and the community. That he of all people commanded the armed guard of the whole borderland made Valašská Bystřice the natural centre of portáš tradition: the revived Bystřické desátnictvo is based here to this day, and the village holds the Portášské slavnosti every year. The rank of lieutenant stayed with the Křeneks **until the corps ended in 1830**. Jiří Křenek did not live to see it: he died in **1791** and was buried by the church he attended. The rank **PORTASKI LIEUTENANT** - portáš lieutenant - is still legible on the lid of his tomb. ![Detail of a stone skull at the top of a tomb slab, a cast-iron cross rising from its crown](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8316.avif) The skull on the tomb of a man who led the corps for over twenty years - from 1769 until his death. 1830: the end ### The corps was disbanded over money. The stones stayed. In October **1830** the corps was finally disbanded - above all over **money**. It also played a part that the [Moravian-Hungarian borderland](https://zpusteven.cz/en/trojmezi) had at last grown quieter. On discharge each portáš received a one-off payment according to his years of service. No fortress or barracks was left of the corps - only names in the registers, songs and a few objects in museums. In Valašská Bystřice **two tombs** remained. In **1958** the state listed them among cultural monuments. The tombs ### Stone that keeps its secret Both graves take the form of a **stone coffin**, with a **sandstone slab some fifteen centimetres thick** standing in front of it in a volute frame. At its top sits a skull on crossed bones, from which a cast-iron cross rises. Who is in the second grave is not known. The parish chronicle and the list of cultural monuments agree on Křenek's **wife Marina** (†1781), while a number of tourist sources write rather of his son **Ondřej**, a portáš corporal and blacksmith. Burials now take place across the road. The parish founded the new graveyard there in the middle of the 19th century, among other reasons because of a typhus epidemic. Both graves of the portáši stayed where they were, though - in the grass in front of the church. - **material of the slab:** sandstone - **thickness of the front slab:** ≈ 15 cm - **number of graves:** 2 ![Two late baroque tombs in Valašská Bystřice - sandstone front slabs with volutes, inscriptions and stone skulls from which cast-iron crosses rise; candles on the gravel bed in front of them](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/portaske-hroby/1280/IMG_8319.avif) A volute frame, an inscription slab and a skull with a cast-iron cross - the same on both tombs. Timeline ## From an imperial rescript to the Portášské slavnosti 1. 31 March 1638 ### The emperor hires Wallachians Ferdinand III orders **a hundred Wallachians** to be hired - a detachment of “loyal Wallachians” is formed, which becomes the **portáši**. 2. 2nd half of the 17th c. ### A guard on a restless borderland The corps is called up as the situation demands. It guards the Moravian border in the years of the **Turkish and Kuruc raids** and puts down robbers and smugglers. 3. 1717 ### A standing corps The portáši become a **standing security corps**: a lieutenant at the head, below him a sergeant, a junior sergeant and five corporals. **Valašská Bystřice** has a squad too. 4. 1769 ### Jiří Křenek takes the lead The **fojt of Valašská Bystřice** becomes lieutenant of the corps. His time is regarded as the **finest period** of portáš history. 5. 1791 ### The lieutenant's death Jiří Křenek dies and is buried by the church in Valašská Bystřice. The **lid of the tomb chest, from the late 18th century**, carries the rank of portáš lieutenant. 6. October 1830 ### The corps disbanded The corps is dissolved - mainly over **cost** (more than 67,000 gulden over the last twenty years). The rank of lieutenant stayed with the Křeneks to the end. 7. 1958 ### A cultural monument Both graves are listed among **state-protected cultural monuments**. 8. November 2003 ### The portáši return Enthusiasts for military history found a modern **Valašský sbor portášský**; its first unit is the **Bystřické desátnictvo**. 9. today ### Portášské slavnosti The second weekend in July belongs to the **Portášské slavnosti** in the village - a procession, folklore, a fair and displays in period costume. Visit ## Stop by the church in Valašská Bystřice The graves lie in the open on the grass in front of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a few steps from the Valašská Bystřice, střed bus stop and from the municipal office. They are accessible at any time and free of charge. ### Where exactly it is #### In front of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the middle of the village Valašská Bystřice lies in the valley of the Bystřice brook, about **6.5 km south-west of Rožnov** pod Radhoštěm. You will find the tombs in the grass between the church and the road, on the site of the **closed graveyard** - today's graveyard is opposite, behind a stone wall. ##### Otevřít v mapách [Mapy.com](https://mapy.com/en/zakladni?x=18.1095025&y=49.4150836&z=17&source=coor&id=18.1095025,49.4150836) · [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=49.4150836,18.1095025) ##### Other places nearby [The Vidče stone balls](https://zpusteven.cz/en/videcske-koule) · [Rysová](https://zpusteven.cz/en/rysova) · [The avenues on Hradisko](https://zpusteven.cz/en/aleje-na-hradisku) · [The ruins of Rožnov Castle](https://zpusteven.cz/roznov-castle-ruins) · [The chimneys on the Tesla site](https://zpusteven.cz/en/kominy-tesla) · [The Church of All Saints](https://zpusteven.cz/all-saints-church-roznov) · [Villa Jaroněk](https://zpusteven.cz/en/jaronkova-vila) · [Rožnov park with its bandstand](https://zpusteven.cz/en/roznovsky-park) Map of the area ### What to know before you go #### Any time and free The graves lie on **freely accessible grass** by the church. No admission, no opening hours, no ticket office. #### An information panel on the spot Beside the graves stands a **wooden panel under a small roof** explaining the portáši - a good start before you set out through the village. #### A place of remembrance This is a **real grave**, a place for quiet remembrance. The candles by the slabs are part of that - leave them burning and do not climb on the stones. #### Portášské slavnosti **The second weekend in July** the village comes alive with portáš tradition: a procession, folklore ensembles, a fair and displays in period costume. #### Nearest facilities Refreshments are **in the centre of the village**, a few steps away. Na závěr ## Doplňující info a test znalostí ### Rychlá rekapitulace **Who were the portáši?** An armed corps that guarded the Moravian-Hungarian border, the passes and the mountains from 1638 to 1830. The name comes from the Latin porta, a gate. **Who is buried in the graves by the church?** In one, Jiří Křenek, the fojt of Bystřice and lieutenant of the portáši († 1791). Who lies in the other is not certain - both his wife Marina and his son Ondřej are named. **What is carved on the tombs?** The same inscription on both: SMILVGTE SE NADEMNAV ASPON WI PRZATELE MOGI - have pity on me, at least you, my friends. A verse from the biblical Book of Job. **Why was the portáš corps disbanded?** In 1830, mainly over cost (more than 67,000 gulden over the last twenty years) and a quieter situation on the borderland. **Do the portáši still exist today?** In a modern form, yes - Valašský sbor portášský was founded in 2003, and the village holds the Portášské slavnosti on the second weekend of July every year. --- Source: [The graves of the portáši in Valašská Bystřice](https://zpusteven.cz/en/portasske-hroby) - zPusteven.cz. When citing, please link to the page.