Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Bystřice nad Olší

One of the wooden churches in the area of Těšín Silesia is the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Bystřice nad Olší. The present church dates from the end of the 19th century, when it replaced a dilapidated church from the 16th century. And even older was the bell tower, which stood here in 1584, the year cast in the bell of the current church.

When the local believers decided to build a new church, they dismantled the old one and the beams were bought by a local citizen who built his log house in Bystřice. One of the two altars from the old church was first in the Těšín Museum, where it was bought by Archduke Bedřich, known from Bezruč’s Silesian Songs as Marquis Gero. Bedřich decorated his chateau in nearby Wisla, Poland, with this altar.

The Bystřice church is one of the most beautiful examples of wooden church architecture, and it is definitely worth visiting Těšín Silesia to see it.