Statue of St. Patrick in Karviná

Fryštát is one of the few places in the Czech Republic that has a tradition of worshipping St. Patrick. A five-metre high sandstone statue of the Irish saint has stood by the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross since the mid-18th century.

The statue is related to the fact that in the mid-18th century the Irish Catholic Taaffe family from Carligford, who fled Ireland to escape the persecution of Catholics, settled in Fryštát. And since St. Patrick was active in Ireland in the 5th century and is associated with the development of Christianity there, he became the patron saint of the Irish.