--- title: "Radhošť and the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius" description: "Radhošť (1,129 m) is one of the best-known Beskids peaks. Discover its chapel, Albín Polášek's statues, mountain views and history." url: "https://zpusteven.cz/en/radhost" lang: "en" latitude: 49.4918 longitude: 18.2228 elevation: 1129 --- ![Aerial view of Radhošť's summit with the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the transmitter](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/DJI_0160.avif) Moravia's highest pilgrimage site • 1,129 m a.s.l. # Radhošť and the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius A mountain linked by local legend to Radegast and the two missionaries. - **Where:** 1,129 m a.s.l., between Rožnov and Frenštát - **Access:** on foot along the ridge from Pustevny - **Chapel opening:** irregular, depending on weather and volunteers - **Chapel entry:** free ## Mountain, chapel, statues Radhošť, a place of pilgrimage. Since 1898, the summit has been crowned by **the highest church in Czechia** - the shingle-clad Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Beside it stand statues of the two missionaries and a stone cross. A little further on, a television transmitter. Radhošť brings together pagan myth, pilgrimage and Wallachian stubbornness. Without that last ingredient, the mountain would have no chapel. ![Side view of the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius, with the transmitter and stone cross by the entrance](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9954.avif) The shingle-clad chapel, bell tower and stone cross by the entrance - switch views Why Radhošť ### One story unites the mountain The chapel, the two missionaries' statues and the Radegast statue on the ridge share one legend. It gained momentum with **the thousandth anniversary of Cyril and Methodius's arrival in Moravia** and the fervour of the Czech National Revival. When to go ### All year; main pilgrimage on 5 July You can walk the ridge all year. The chapel opens irregularly, depending on weather and volunteers ([check with Matice Radhošťská](https://www.matice-radhost.cz/)). The busiest day is the Cyril and Methodius **pilgrimage on 5 July**. What to see ### Stained glass and bell tower views Eight stained-glass windows depict scenes from the missionaries' lives and four patron saints. **If the bell tower is open, climb to its second floor** - above the treetops, you can see further than from the ridge. ### What stands on the summit ![Front view of the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius and its bell tower](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9951.avif) #### Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius Radhošť's summit landmark, built in 1898. ![Albín Polášek's bronze statues of Saints Cyril and Methodius in front of the chapel](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9933.avif) #### Statues of the missionaries Albín Polášek's bronze gift to Matice Radhošťská in 1930; the book bears the opening of John's Gospel. ![Michal Janík's stone cross from 1805, with a gilded Christ, by the chapel entrance](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9962.avif) #### Stone cross from 1805 The summit's oldest witness, now by the chapel entrance. ![Aerial view of Radhošť's summit with the chapel, statues and transmitter](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/DJI_0163.avif) #### Television transmitter The summit's second silhouette beside the chapel - a landmark visible from both sides of the mountain. ### Nearby places [Radegast statue](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta) - ~2 km along the ridge · Albín Polášek's statue of the Slavic pagan god of the sun, abundance and harvest, on the ridge towards Pustevny. [Cyrilka Cave](https://zpusteven.cz/cyrilka-cave) - near Pustevny · ~4 km · A fissure cave below the ridge - in legends, an entrance to Radegast's underground realm. Mount Radhošť ## Views from the Beskids' westernmost thousand-metre peak 360° view from Radhošť's summit - drag to look around the chapel and above the trees. At **1,129 m above sea level,** Radhošť is the seventh-highest mountain and **westernmost thousand-metre peak** in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids. Below the summit, the northern slopes form a **national nature reserve** protecting remnants of the original mountain forests. Trees have gradually grown over the summit ridge, obscuring part of the view. **In favourable conditions, the best views are from the chapel bell tower's second floor.** ### What you can see from Radhošť - **East:** Lysá hora, Smrk, Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn. - **South:** Hostýnsko-vsetínská hornatina, the Javorníky Mountains and the White Carpathians. - **North:** The Frenštát area, Ondřejník and Ostravská pánev; in clear weather, the Jeseníky too. - **West:** The Moravian Gate. Views depend on weather, visibility and whether the bell tower is open. Trees obscure parts of the view from the ridge itself. ## Radhošť's story From a Baroque legend through thirty-six years of effort to a bell whose secret two men took to their graves. Mountain and legend ### Radegast came first Legend makes Radhošť the home of Radegast, the Slavic pagan god of the sun, abundance and harvest. Cyril and Methodius are said to have come to topple his idol - on the very summit where the chapel stands today. The legend was invented in 1710 by the historian **Jan Jiří Středovský**. It caught on, and later writers developed it further. It inspired both the chapel and [Polášek's Radegast statue](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta). In the old days, when prayers rather than maps guided people through the mountains, a golden Radegast is said to have stood on Radhošť's summit. The god of the sun, harvest and hospitality looked down from the region's highest point on valleys filled with hearth smoke. Mountain folk climbed to him with offerings: honey, grain, the first milk of spring. Around the idol burned a fire that must never go out. At the summer solstice there was dancing on the summit, and offerings were made to a white bull. The mountain itself was said to be hollow. Beneath the pastures and beechwoods ran passages and halls where Radegast's priests guarded treasures gathered from all over Moravian Wallachia. There, in the darkness below the summit, they hid the golden idol when word of a new faith began to spread from Velehrad. That news had two names: Cyril and Methodius. The brothers from Thessaloniki, who brought writing and the Word to Moravia, are said to have reached the foot of Radhošť. The story tells of a night spent beside a spring in the valley. When the morning mist lifted, they saw the golden idol gleaming on the summit in the sunlight. They climbed the path now walked by every pilgrim from Pustevny. People from the foothills joined them, curious to see who would face whom on the mountain. At the summit, Methodius is said to have stood silent for a long time. Then he told the mountain folk that he would leave them their mountain, their fire and their songs. Only the idol would go: it took and gave nothing. Radegast's statue was thrown from the cliff. What happened next has two versions. In one, it rolled into the valley and still lies under moss in a ravine. In the other, the priests carried it underground in time and blocked the entrance. On the sacrificial site, the brothers then raised a cross - the first of many that stood on the summit over the centuries before today's chapel was built. Radegast, as so often with old gods, never quite left. He is said to dwell in the underground halls, guarding the treasure left there with him. Only the mountain knows the entrances to his realm: sometimes they open in [Cyrilka](https://zpusteven.cz/cyrilka-cave), the long fissure cave just below the ridge; sometimes in Volářka beneath the summit. Shepherds told of holes where a dropped stone kept falling and falling, without ever seeming to reach the bottom. In great storms, they said, the mountain rumbled as though something heavy had rolled over in its depths. This much is known about the treasure: it opens once a year, on Good Friday, when the Passion - the biblical account of Christ's suffering and death - is read in churches. Anyone who finds the entrance then may take handfuls, but must neither speak nor look back. There is a tale of a farmer from Bečva who found the gold. At the exit he remembered the cap he had left inside. He looked back, and the rock closed. For the rest of his life he returned to the mountain every Good Friday, waiting for it to open again. It never did. When the chapel was consecrated on the summit in 1898, old people from Trojanovice are said to have declared the mountain finally at peace. Above, a cross and a bell; below, in the darkness, the old god. Between them, the ridge that people still climb today, drawn by one or the other. The mountain, it seems, has room for both. Jan Jiří Středovský first recorded this Baroque legend. Many later versions circulate; it is not a historical source. ![Engraving of Radegast from A. S. Kajsarov's book Slovanská a ruská mytologie, 1804](https://d.zpusteven.cz/ccmedia/1024/radhost-radegast-rytina-1804.avif) Engraving: [A. S. Kajsarov, 1804, Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Radegast%5F%28Kaisarov%29%5Fcropped.png), public domain Building the chapel ### 36 years from idea to chapel In 1862, Radhošť hosted a patriotic pilgrimage rally as the thousandth anniversary of Cyril and Methodius's arrival in Moravia approached. The first proposal for a summit memorial - the future chapel - was voiced there. An initial collection raised **120 gulden**, then fundraising stalled for years. It resumed only in 1881. On Hynek Fialka's proposal, the Občanská beseda civic society in Frenštát voted to build a chapel on the summit and appointed a building committee to take over preparations. Another decisive boost came from Adolf Liebscher's triptych Valašská madona (Wallachian Madonna). It drew crowds to its own pavilion at Prague's 1895 Czechoslavic Ethnographic Exhibition. Liebscher then sold it to the committee well below its value. A touring exhibition across Bohemia and Moravia then built on its Prague success and raised another **6,000 gulden**, almost a third of the total cost. Archbishop Theodor Kohn donated the land on the Trojanovice side; Count Rudolf Kinský gave the land on the Dolní Bečva side. The chapel was deliberately built **across the boundary of two cadastral areas** - half on the Rožnov side, half on the Frenštát side. The main European watershed between the Baltic and Black Sea drainage basins runs through its centre, as does the boundary between the Zlín and Moravian-Silesian regions. For comparison: around 1900, a cow cost roughly 200–250 gulden. ![Bird's-eye view of the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the missionaries' statues on Radhošť's summit](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/DJI_0170.avif) The summit chapel today - on land donated by two estates, right on their boundary. The building changes ### Why a stone chapel wears wood In 1905, the building committee became the volunteer association [Matice Radhošťská](https://www.matice-radhost.cz/). It still maintains and runs the chapel, apart from an enforced break between 1951 and 1994, when the association was dissolved. Architect Felix Skibiňský's building was originally white and rendered, with a Byzantine-style dome. Mountain weather soaked the masonry, so **in 1924–1926 the chapel was clad in treated wooden shingles and a wooden bell tower with a shingle roof was added**. That transformed the “stone Byzantium” into the building we know today. The wooden bell tower was restored at the turn of the millennium. Carpenters used old techniques: the carved columns and hand-hewn beams match the originals down to the last detail. Local people donated timber from their own forests. On one beam, the carpenters carved **“Valaši sobě” - “Wallachians for themselves”**. ![The Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius and transmitter seen from the approach path in summer](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9926.avif)![The shingle-clad Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius with its bell tower](https://d.zpusteven.cz/ccmedia/1280/radhost-kaple-01.avif)Winter 2011 Summer 2026 The chapel and transmitter seen from the approach path - drag to switch between summer and winter. The shingles' protective treatment gives the wood a recurring colour cycle: a fresh coat darkens it, then rain and sun gradually wash it out until the next treatment. Photo winter 2011: [Valtameri, Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaple%5FCyrila%5Fa%5FMetodeje%5Fna%5FRadhosti%5F%281%29.JPG), [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped ### The bell It survived two wars, and no one knows how The bell is older than the chapel. Frenštát industrialist Josef Calasanz Bumbala and his wife Josefa commissioned it in 1896 – **two years before the chapel's consecration**. It was placed in a small open bellcote above the front of the original stone building. Only during the 1924–1926 alterations was it moved to today's wooden bell tower. Alongside the missionaries, it is dedicated to Saint Joseph Calasanz, founder of the Piarist schools and the donor's baptismal patron. One mystery surrounds the bell: how it survived both world wars. Wartime requisitions sent bells from far grander churches to be melted down. Radhošť's bell **still rings today**. How it was saved twice went to the grave with the association's chairmen at the time: Emil Kostelník and Dean Medard Horák. ![The Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius with the shingle-clad tower housing the bell](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9978.avif) The bell hangs in the tower added in 1924–1926. Carved into a bell tower beam > “Valaši sobě” - “Wallachians for themselves” The bell tower needed restoration at the turn of the millennium. Local people donated timber from their own forests, continuing the tradition of gifts and collections that had funded the chapel a century earlier. Foto: [Jiri Roznovjak, Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaple%5FCyrila%5Fa%5FMetodeje%5F-%5FRadhost.jpg), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), výřez ### Stone cross The summit's oldest witness The oldest object on the summit is the stone cross. Rožnov townsman **Michal Janík** commissioned it in 1805 to replace an older wooden one. A succession of crosses had stood on the same spot since 1735. Janík's was the last, remaining there for over a century. Svatopluk Čech, who visited Radhošť in 1881, also mentioned it in Vzpomínky z cest a života (Memories of Travel and Life). In 1930, Polášek's bronze statues took the cross's place. The cross was moved **in front of the chapel entrance** and it still stands there. The inscription on its base is carved into the stone and picked out in paint. ![Michal Janík's stone cross from 1805, with a gilded Christ, by the chapel entrance](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9962.avif) ### Statues of the missionaries A gift from a sculptor who found fame in America Born in Frenštát, Albín Polášek began poor and unknown. In America, he became one of the most respected sculptors of his day. As a professor, he headed the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago; his monuments still stand in American cities. In 1930, he gave Matice Radhošťská bronze statues of the two missionaries, expressly **“for Mount Radhošť alone, in everlasting remembrance for all generations to come”**. A few years earlier, he had made the original marble statues for the cathedral in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where they still stand. He had the bronze replica, cast in Czechoslovakia, sent to Radhošť together with his Radegast statue, a gift to the Pohorská jednota Radhošť mountain association. Both works were unveiled at the Slavic Pilgrimage on 5 July 1931. Cyril holds an open book with an extended passage from the opening of John's Gospel, written in a mixture of Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts. Methodius raises a Byzantine cross with three crossbars. The sinewy hands are deliberate: Polášek modelled them as **the hands of working men**. > “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came into being through him, and without him nothing came into being that exists. In him was life.” > > the opening of John's Gospel, written in a mixture of Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts Polášek returned home almost every year and hoped to settle there in old age. After the communist coup in 1948, he never returned to his homeland. He died on 19 May 1965 in Winter Park, Florida. - **statues' height:** 2.60 m - **hollow bronze casting:** 800 kg - **granite pedestal:** 1.60 m ![Albín Polášek's bronze statues of Saints Cyril and Methodius in front of the chapel](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_9933.avif) The statues stand where Janík's 1805 cross once stood - switch to a detail of the book's Glagolitic and Cyrillic text ### Television transmitter The signal Rožnov waited decades for Television picture tubes had been assembled since the 1950s at the state-owned [Tesla Rožnov](https://zpusteven.cz/en/kominy-tesla) plant in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. Yet the region lacked a good television signal: the aerial on nearby Hradisko (522 m a.s.l.) could not provide clear reception. The solution was a transmitter on Radhošť itself. It was built near the chapel in September 1966, replacing a mountain shelter older than the chapel. Among other things, visitors used to borrow the chapel key there. The first transmitter's concrete base, with the year carved into it, still lies there. The first transmitter, built in 1966, was temporary. In 1985, it was replaced by more powerful equipment for television, radio and the telephone links of the time. In 1997, the mast was extended by 22 metres to its present 59.3 m. Its top now reaches 1,177.8 m above sea level, almost 49 metres above the mountain's summit. The transmitter forms the summit's second distinctive silhouette. ![Aerial view of Radhošť's summit with the chapel, statues and television transmitter](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/DJI_0163.avif) Timeline ## The whole story in dates 1. ### Radegast and the crosses 1710–1862 1. 1710 #### The Radhošť legend is born Historian Jan Jiří Středovský invents a story linking the pagan Radegast to Cyril and Methodius's arrival on Radhošť. The legend catches on, takes root and later inspires the chapel and Radegast statue. 2. 1735 #### The first summit cross A wooden cross stands on Radhošť's summit - the first Christian symbol on a mountain associated with the pagan Radegast. 3. 1805 #### Michal Janík's stone cross Rožnov townsman Michal Janík has the wooden cross replaced with a stone one. Toppled in a storm in 1808, it is raised again and remains on the summit for over a century. 4. 1862 #### Patriotic celebration and first collection: 120 gulden A patriotic pilgrimage rally ahead of the thousandth anniversary of the missionaries' arrival in Moravia first raises the idea of a memorial in public. The first **120 gulden** towards construction are collected at the celebration. Building it is still a long way off. 2. ### Towards a chapel 1881–1895 1. 1881 #### Hynek Fialka's proposal Hynek Fialka proposes a summit chapel at Frenštát's Občanská beseda civic society. The society votes in favour, turning an earlier general idea into a building plan. A new collection raises **500 gulden**; the estimated cost is 10,000. 2. 1888 #### Count Kinský donates land Rudolf Kinský of the Rožnov estate donates building land in the Dolní Bečva cadastral area and building stone. Archbishop Theodor Kohn later adds land in the Trojanovice cadastral area. The chapel is deliberately planned **half on the Rožnov side, half on the Frenštát side**. 3. 1889–1895 #### Emil Kostelník takes the chair Frenštát industrialist Emil Kostelník takes over the building committee. It organises collections and prepares for construction; **8,000 gulden** have been raised by this point. 4. 1895 #### Valašská madona helps fund the chapel Adolf Liebscher's triptych Valašská madona draws crowds to its own pavilion at Prague's Czechoslavic Ethnographic Exhibition. He then sells it to the committee well below its value: **800 gulden** instead of 4,000. A touring exhibition across Bohemia and Moravia builds on its Prague success, raising another **6,000 gulden**. 3. ### Building the chapel 1896–1898 1. 5 July 1896 #### The foundation stone The foundation stone is blessed on the missionaries' feast day. Kroměříž architect **Felix Skibiňský** designs the stone chapel in Romanesque-Byzantine style, reflecting the brothers' Byzantine origins. 2. 1896 #### A bell older than the chapel Frenštát industrialist Josef Calasanz Bumbala and his wife Josefa commission a bell, **two years before the building is finished**. The same bell still rings from the mountain. 3. 11 September 1898 #### Consecration The chapel is complete, at a cost of **20,000 gulden**. Theodor Kohn, Archbishop of Olomouc, consecrates it and opens it to the public. Around 1900, a cow cost roughly 200–250 gulden: the chapel cost the equivalent of 80–100 cows. 4. ### The chapel changes 1904–1931 1. 1904 #### A side altar for the Madonna A right-hand side altar is added for Liebscher's Valašská madona. The main marble altar is the work of sculptor Ferdinand Neumann from Kroměříž. 2. 1905 #### Matice Radhošťská is founded The volunteer association succeeds the building committee, maintaining and running the chapel and fostering devotion to Cyril and Methodius. Apart from an enforced break, it continues to this day. 3. 1924–1926 #### Shingles and a bell tower Damp penetrates the white stone chapel. It is clad in **treated wooden shingles**, and a wooden bell tower is added. The chapel takes on its familiar appearance. 4. 1930–1931 #### Polášek's statues Frenštát-born **Albín Polášek**, a sculptor living in the USA, gives the association bronze statues of the two missionaries. They are erected where Janík's cross stood. The cross moves to the chapel entrance. 5. ### Modern restoration 1951–2009 1. 1951 #### The association is dissolved The communist regime dissolves the association. In the following decades, local volunteers care for the chapel informally, without the association. 2. 1994 #### The association returns Local enthusiasts revive the association. Among them is self-taught painter František Gajdušek, who painted several modern works in the chapel. 3. 1995–2009 #### Major restoration New wiring, a full overhaul and **restoration of the bell tower (2000–2003)**. Carpenters carve **“Valaši sobě” - “Wallachians for themselves”** into a beam. A Carrara marble altar table is added and the stained-glass windows are restored. 6. ### Television transmitter 1966–1997 1. 1966 #### A transmitter beside the chapel The aerial on nearby Hradisko cannot provide a good signal, so a transmitter is built on Radhošť. A mountain hikers' shelter older than the chapel makes way for it. 2. 1985 #### A more powerful replacement The temporary transmitter is replaced by more powerful equipment for television, radio and the telephone links of the time. 3. 1997 #### Further reconstruction The transmitter undergoes another technical overhaul. Beside the chapel, it remains the summit's second distinctive silhouette. Interior and gallery ## The chapel interior in detail Stained glass ### Eight windows, three themes Eight windows feature paintings on glass: **two scenes from the lives of Cyril and Methodius**, four patron saints and two written prayers with a patriotic message rooted in the Czech National Revival. Altars ### Ferdinand Neumann's altar and the altar table Sculptor **Ferdinand Neumann** from Kroměříž carved the main altar when the chapel was built. A century later, during the major restoration, the association commissioned the Carrara marble altar table in front of it. Valašská madona ### The painting that helped build the chapel A copy of Liebscher's triptych by Otakar Pavlovský hangs on the side altar. The original, whose touring exhibition raised substantial funds for construction, is in **Saint Martin's Church in Frenštát**. The chancel with Ferdinand Neumann's original altar from 1898: two kneeling angels adore the tabernacle. A modern Carrara marble altar table stands in front, with light shining through stained-glass windows on either side. ![View along the chapel nave towards the altar - black-grid floor tiles, a barrel vault and paintings on the sides](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_0011.avif) The chapel nave: the altar and stained-glass windows date from 1898; the plasterwork and tiles from the 1924–1926 alterations. The modern paintings on the sides are by František Gajdušek, who helped revive Matice Radhošťská in 1994. ![Side altar with a painting of Our Lady of Sorrows and a stained-glass scene of Saint Cyril's death in Rome](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_0006.avif) Side altar with a Pietà, or Our Lady of Sorrows; the window above depicts Saint Cyril's death in Rome on 14 February 869. ![Saint Ludmila depicted in a side window of the chapel](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_0001.avif) Saint Ludmila - one of four stained-glass windows depicting patron saints ![Carved triangular emblem of Matice Radhošťská inside the chapel](https://d.zpusteven.cz/place/radhost/1280/IMG_0016.avif) Carved emblem of Matice Radhošťská with Saints Cyril and Methodius inside the chapel Events on Radhošť ## A year on the mountain: pilgrimage, Mass and a New Year's climb ### The year's main event 5 July every year The feast of the Slavic missionaries - the busiest day of the year on Radhošť's summit. **Pilgrimage Mass at the chapel** has been held since its consecration in 1898, always on 5 July, the feast of Cyril and Methodius. The same date was chosen deliberately for the blessing of the chapel's foundation stone in 1896. The pilgrimage draws crowds from both sides of the mountain and continued even while Matice Radhošťská was dissolved. Plan your pilgrimage walk · [Current parish programme](https://www.farnostfrenstat.cz/) ### Other events during the year Sat 11:00 • July–mid-September #### Saturday pilgrimage Mass **Mass every Saturday at 11:00**, without the main pilgrimage's crowds. The chapel is usually open for visits afterwards. 1 Jan traditional New Year's climbs #### New Year's Day climb to Radhošť The year's first view: walkers head for the summit **on New Year's Day itself**. The chapel is usually closed; the snowy ridge is the draw. Visit ## Plan your walk to Radhošť The chapel has no guaranteed regular opening hours: access depends on the weather and volunteers' availability. The summit is worth a visit even with the doors shut - the building, statues, cross and stained glass make an impression from outside too. ### Where exactly #### On the boundary of two regions Radhošť's summit lies about 7 km northeast of [Rožnov pod Radhoštěm](https://zpusteven.cz/en/roznov-pod-radhostem) as the crow flies. The chapel is in the Dolní Bečva cadastral area, and the **boundary between the Zlín and Moravian-Silesian regions** runs right past the building. The main European watershed between the Baltic and Black Sea drainage basins also runs through the chapel's centre. ##### Otevřít v mapách [Mapy.com](https://mapy.com/en/zakladni?x=18.2228&y=49.4918&z=17&source=coor&id=18.2228,49.4918) · [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=49.4918,18.2228) ##### Other nearby places (off the route) [The Cyrilka lookout pavilion](https://zpusteven.cz/en/altan-cyrilka) · [Cyrilka Cave](https://zpusteven.cz/cyrilka-cave) · [Mořské oko](https://zpusteven.cz/en/morske-oko) · [The Jurkovič lookout tower](https://zpusteven.cz/en/jurkovicova-rozhledna) · [Kněhyně](https://zpusteven.cz/en/knehyne) · [Čertův mlýn](https://zpusteven.cz/en/certuv-mlyn) Ridge route ### Getting here: along the ridge You reach the summit on foot. The finest approach (4 km, 1–1.5 h) follows the ridge from [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny). 1. 1 #### [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny) starting point The walk starts at the Pustevny saddle. Before heading up the ridge, take a look at the Art Nouveau mountain lodges [Libušín](https://zpusteven.cz/en/libusin) and [Maměnka](https://zpusteven.cz/en/mamenka) by Dušan Samo Jurkovič. 2. 2 #### [Along the ridge to the Radegast statue](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta) ~1.5 km Follow the ridge to the granite [statue of the pagan god Radegast](https://zpusteven.cz/en/socha-radegasta) by Albín Polášek - the sculptor who also made the statues by the chapel. 3. 3 #### From Radegast to the chapel +2 km From the statue, continue along the ridge for about another two kilometres to Radhošť's summit itself. You have views over both sides of the Beskids for practically the whole way. 4. #### Radhošť's summit and the chapel destination · you are here Czechia's highest religious building - and beside it the statues of the missionaries, looking back across the ridge towards Radegast. 5. ↓ #### [Onward: down to Rožnov](https://zpusteven.cz/hiking/pustevny-radhost-roznov) an option without a car Don't want to go back the same way? From the chapel you can [walk down the trail past the open-air museum Valašské muzeum v přírodě to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm](https://zpusteven.cz/hiking/pustevny-radhost-roznov). Check the return bus connection to Pustevny before setting off. The descent is shown as a dashed line on the map. **From the other side:** you can also leave your car in Rožnov and walk the [Pustevny - Radhošť - Rožnov route](https://zpusteven.cz/hiking/pustevny-radhost-roznov) in reverse - a full day's walk with a steady climb. ### Before you set out #### Chapel opening hours The chapel is often accessible outside services, but **has no publicly guaranteed regular opening hours**. Opening depends on the weather and the availability of Matice Radhošťská's volunteers. #### Services and pilgrimage From July, Mass is usually held **every Saturday at 11:00**. The main Cyril and Methodius pilgrimage falls on **5 July** - the liveliest and most crowded day on the ridge. For the current schedule, see the [Matice Radhošťská website](https://www.matice-radhost.cz/). #### Admission and tours **Entry is free.** Arrange group visits in advance through the Trojanovice municipal office. The chapel is administered by the Roman Catholic parish of Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. #### Weather on the ridge The summit is noticeably colder and windier than the valley - bring an extra layer even in summer. The ridge path is easy but exposed, with no shelter; **stay off it during thunderstorms**. #### Food and toilets There is a **portable toilet** by the chapel. Food and drink are available at **Pustevny**. Na závěr ## Doplňující info a test znalostí ### Rychlá rekapitulace **How high is Radhošť?** Radhošť rises to 1,129 m above sea level. It is the westernmost thousand-metre peak in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and the range's seventh-highest mountain. **What stands on Radhošť's summit?** The Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius from 1898, Albín Polášek's bronze statues of the missionaries, a stone cross from 1805 and a television transmitter. **How do I get to Radhošť?** The usual approach is on foot along the ridge from Pustevny (about an hour). You can reach Pustevny by chairlift from Trojanovice-Ráztoka or by bus. You cannot drive to the summit. **Is there food available on Radhošť, and are there toilets?** There is a portable toilet by the chapel. Food and drink are available at Pustevny. **When is the chapel on Radhošť open?** The chapel has no publicly guaranteed regular opening hours. Access depends on weather and the availability of Matice Radhošťská's volunteers. The summit is worth visiting even when the chapel is closed. When it is open, the bell tower viewpoint is usually accessible too, conditions permitting. **Why is Radhošť linked to Radegast?** A Baroque legend first recorded by Jan Jiří Středovský in the early 18th century spread the link between Radhošť, Radegast and a visit by Cyril and Methodius. It is not a historical source, but it became so firmly rooted that it later inspired the chapel and Polášek's Radegast statue. **Who looks after the chapel?** The volunteer association Matice Radhošťská maintains the chapel and opens it to visitors. Founded in 1905 as the building committee's successor, it was forced to suspend its work in 1951–1994. Today it also keeps the site's Cyril and Methodius tradition alive. Where next ## Places linked to Radhošť Transport to the ridge, a descent down the other side and a neighbouring protected area - places that fit into a visit to Radhošť. [Pustevny](https://zpusteven.cz/en/pustevny) - Starting point and transport hub · A chairlift from Trojanovice, a bus and parking below the ridge - this is where the walk to Radhošť begins. The saddle also has the Art Nouveau mountain lodges Libušín and Maměnka. · Přejít na stránku → [Rožnov pod Radhoštěm](https://zpusteven.cz/en/roznov-pod-radhostem) - Down the other side of the ridge · From the chapel, you can also descend to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm past the open-air museum Valašské muzeum v přírodě - a full-day version of the walk in the opposite direction. · Přejít na stránku → [The Kněhyně - Čertův mlýn reserve](https://zpusteven.cz/knehyne-certuv-mlyn-reserve) - A neighbouring reserve on the horizon · Kněhyně and Čertův mlýn, clearly visible east of Radhošť - a national nature reserve with its own legend and pseudokarst formations. · Přejít na stránku → --- Source: [Radhošť and the Chapel of Saints Cyril and Methodius](https://zpusteven.cz/en/radhost) - zPusteven.cz. When citing, please link to the page.