The best family-friendly hikes and walks around okres Zlín

At an altitude of 736 m above sea level, the Hostýn lookout tower is located on the Svatý Hostýn hill. The total height is 15 m, the observation deck is located at 12 m. The lookout tower offers a view of the Haná landscape and the Hostýnské vrchy hills. The location is easily accessible on foot, by bike and by car.

The lookout tower is located on Mount Hostýn (735 m), which dominates the Hostýn Hills and provides a beautiful view of the wide surroundings in all directions.

The resistance organization Hory Hostýnské was, like the better-known Svetlana, founded on the foundations of the anti-Nazi resistance – the Jan Žižka partisan brigade. It was established in June 1948 and its first commander was Josef Čuba (1893–1951) from Rajnochovice. The group prepared for a possible nationwide anti-communist coup (including collecting weapons, which it hid in forest caches). In addition, it helped persecuted citizens in the region, spread information through leaflet campaigns, and intimidated local zealous communist officials.

When at the end of the 19th century the Stations of the Cross located on the walls of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in St. Hostýn was no longer enough for the number of praying pilgrims, there was talk that an outdoor Stations of the Cross should also be built. One that would crown the slopes of St. Hostýn and where a procession of pilgrims much larger than before could pray. Work on the new Stations of the Cross began in 1900. However, the simple classicist chapels with paintings by the Bystřice painter Mr. Žůrek did not garner the kind of response that the local parish had dreamed of.

When at the end of the 19th century the Stations of the Cross located on the walls of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in St. Hostýn was no longer enough for the number of praying pilgrims, there was talk that an outdoor Stations of the Cross should also be built. One that would crown the slopes of St. Hostýn and where a procession of pilgrims much larger than before could pray. Work on the new Stations of the Cross began in 1900. However, the simple classicist chapels with paintings by the Bystřice painter Mr. Žůrek did not garner the kind of response that the local parish had dreamed of.

Saint Hostýn is a renowned pilgrimage site in the Hostýn Hills in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. It is one of our most popular holy hills, which welcomes good people to stop not only on the way to get water from the spring, but also to walk through beautiful nature, visit Marian pilgrimages and tour historical monuments. There was even a prehistoric hillfort on Hostýn once. If the weather permits, enjoy a health walk with children to Hostýn Hill and let positive energy permeate your soul.

The Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a pilgrimage church with the title of basilica minor standing on the hill of Svatý Hostýn. It is one of the most important Marian pilgrimage churches in Moravia, which also includes Velehrad or in Bohemia Svatá Hora near Příbram. In 2018, the entire complex was declared a national cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Legend has it that a spring gushed out of a rock in that place in 1241 to save Christians besieged by the Turks. The spring became a symbol of protection and refreshment for pilgrims. It also had a healing reputation, and belief in the miraculous power of Hostýn water has deep roots among the people to this day. The spring is visited by various Moravian people: Hanáci, Vlachs, Slovaks, who wash their sick limbs with the miraculous water. The spring, together with the water chapel, was called Moravian Lourdes and compared to the French Lourdes in southwestern France at the foot of the Pyrenees, where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1558. The Moravian Lourdes are, however, much older. Holy and truly miraculous water has been begged by Mother Hostýnská for the Moravians from the spring from the rock below the embankment for more than 700 years. The Water Chapel was also called the Well Chapel in the past.