{"id":8344,"date":"2022-07-06T12:01:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T10:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potulnauniverzita.cz\/?post_type=aktivity&p=8344"},"modified":"2022-07-06T16:29:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T14:29:51","slug":"putovani-k-pramenum-labe-a-do-polske-casti-krkonos","status":"publish","type":"aktivity","link":"https:\/\/potulnauniverzita.cz\/en\/aktivity\/putovani-k-pramenum-labe-a-do-polske-casti-krkonos\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking to the sources of the Elbe and the Polish part of the Giant Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
\n

Summer wanderings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiking to the sources of the Elbe and the Polish part of the Giant Mountains<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\"C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CD Friedrich, Krkono\u0161e \/ Giant Mountains (view from the Polish side), 1810 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

following the footsteps of the Krkono\u0161e pilgrimage undertaken in July 1810 by German painters Caspar David Friedrich and Georg Friedrich Kersting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Vysoka L\u00edpa \u2013 Studenec \u2013 Tol\u0161tejn \u2013 Lu\u017e \u2013 Oyb\u00edn \u2013 Hr\u00e1dek nad Nisou \u2013 Old\u0159ichovsk\u00fd \u0160pi\u010d\u00e1k \u2013 Hejnice \u2013 Pali\u010dn\u00edk \u2013 Jizerka \u2013 Elbe spring \u2013 Sn\u011b\u017en\u00e9 jama \u2013 Mu\u017esk\u00e9 kameny \u2013 Wielki and Maly Staw lakes \u2013 Karpacz \u2013 Kowary and around Sn\u011b\u017eka to Horn\u00ed Mar\u0161ov (198 km).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 21-28, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

"<\/em>If we imagine the artist in his feelings that moved him as a man from the plain and the coast, as he approached the mountains, we will understand how the increasing movement of the earth must have taken hold of him."<\/em><\/p>G\u00fcnther Grundmann about CD Friedrich during his trip to the Giant Mountains<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the first half of July 1810, two German painters, friends Caspar David Friedrich and Georg Friedrich Kersting, undertook a more than two-week journey to the Giant Mountains, which lasted approximately from July 2 or 3 to July 18. They set off from Vansdorf, but the actual starting point of their journey was Oyb\u00edn, a famous cult place for German romantic artists. We will travel to Oyb\u00edn from the center of Bohemian-Saxon Switzerland from Vysoka L\u00edpa via Studenec and Lu\u017e, and from there we will follow the route of the two artists' journey to Hr\u00e1dek nad Nisou and further across the entire Jizera Mountains and through the western Giant Mountains to the sources of the Elbe; which was one of the main goals of their journey. We will then travel along the ridges of the Giant Mountains through Sn\u011b\u017en\u00e9 j\u00e1my and Mu\u017esk\u00e9 kameny and around the glacial lakes Wielki and Maly Staw to the Polish part of the Giant Mountains. We will visit Karpacz, where we will see a unique monument of Norwegian medieval architecture, the Wang Church, and the town of Kowary, where both painters arrived on July 13, 1810, and then returned via Poland to Dresden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his journey through the Krkono\u0161e Mountains, Caspar David Friedrich created several drawings and watercolors directly in the field, including the watercolor "The Source of the Elbe", and then, under the impression of his experiences from the journey in the same year 1810, he painted three oil paintings: "Morning in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains", "Krkono\u0161e Mountains" and "Moon over the Krkono\u0161e Mountains". He then retrospectively depicted his experiences from this journey in other oil paintings, which were created in variations in the years 1819-20, 1830 and 1835. The Krkono\u0161e Mountains journey introduced the theme of mountains into Friedrich's work - "encounter with the gigantic mountain waves of the Krkono\u0161e Mountains"<\/em>G\u00fcnther Grundmann describes in his book Das Riesengenbirge in der Malerei der Romantik <\/em>(1931), as Friedrich and Kersting marveled on their journey at the rising and undulating mountain massifs, whose movement and power Friedrich tried to capture in his paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First day \/ Sunday, August 21 (25 km) \/ Pavlinino \u00fadol\u00ed, Studenec, Jedlovsk\u00fd pond<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After the end "Praise of the Back Country" seminars<\/a> We will set off at 10 am from Vysoka L\u00edpa for a hike to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains. We will take the road and then follow the yellow trail to Jet\u0159ichovice; from there we will continue along the red trail to Griesel's Pond<\/em> and The Mermaid's Cave<\/em> and then on <\/em>according to the Ch\u0159ibsk\u00e1 Kamenice stream Through the Pavlina Valley<\/em> to the village of Studen\u00fd. The entire Pavlina Valley is home to rare fauna and flora, including the river otter, river kingfisher and black stork. We continue our ascent along the red trail to Studenec<\/em> (737 m), the second highest peak of the Lusatian Mountains and we will also visit the neighboring Zlat\u00fd vrch nature reserve <\/em>(657 m), where in the former basalt quarry we can observe the perfect structure and massiveness of the igneous basalt columns. From Studenec we will continue along the red trail past Mal\u00fd Javorn\u00edk (690 m) and \u0160irok\u00fd hill to the K\u0159\u00ed\u017eov\u00fd buk crossroads and further past Mal\u00e1 and Velk\u00e1 Tisov\u00e1 to The Great Jedlovsk\u00e9 Pond<\/em>where we spend the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Pohled<\/a>
View of Studen\u00fd v vrch \/ photo: V\u00e1clav Sojka<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pavlinino<\/a>
Pavlina's Valley (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Zlat\u00fd<\/a>
Golden Hill (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Second day \/ Monday, August 22 (20 km) \/ Tol\u0161tejn, Lu\u017e, Carolafelsen, J\u00e1nsk\u00e9 kameny<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From the Great Fir Pond we will head in the morning to the ruins of the Gothic castle Tolstein<\/em> (674 m), which surrounds two bell-shaped craters. This distinctive volcanic hill with the ruins of a castle has attracted the attention of many artists, including the outstanding Swiss graphic artist Adrian Zingg, who captured it in an impressive graphic, and probably also CD Friedrich, whose painting "Morning Mist in the Mountains" (1807) is often associated with the Tol\u0161tejn motif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Tol\u0161tejn<\/a>
Tol\u0161tejn (reprophoto) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Adrian<\/a>
Adrian Zingg, Tolstein (1802)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"C.<\/a>
CD Friedrich, Morning Mist in the Mountains (1807)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We will continue to Lesn\u00e1 and through Goat's back<\/em> at the crossroads Pod Pta\u010dinec and then along the ridge to Puddle<\/em> (793), the highest mountain in the Lusatian Mountains. From Lu\u017e we will take the green path to the German side on Holstein<\/em> (551 m) and on a rock formation Nunnery Rock<\/em> (537 m) and further to Raven stones<\/em>Then we will continue through Johnsdorfer Felsenstadt to a beautiful view of the Carolafelsen<\/em> above Johnsdorf and further along the green to the Krompach valy border crossing and from there to Jan's stones<\/em>where we spend the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vyhl\u00eddka
Viewpoint of Carolafelsen (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Third day \/ Tuesday, August 23 (24 km) \/ Oyb\u00edn, T\u00f6pfer, Hr\u00e1dek nad Nisou, Grab\u0161tejn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From J\u00e1nsk\u00e9 kameny we will head to the viewpoint in the morning. Johannstein <\/em>(602 m) and from there via Johanndorfer strasse on the yellow Thomasweg<\/em>, after which we arrive at Thomas Rock <\/em>and along the Ritterweg to the ruins of the castle and monastery in the spa Oybin<\/em>We will visit the castle chapel, the monastery church and the famous Gothic window, motifs that CD Friedrich drew on his trip to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains and later transformed into paintings such as "Ruin of Oyb\u00edn" (1812), "Hutten's Grave" (1823), "The Dreamer" (1818), etc. We will walk through this entire unique artistic area, integrated into the rocky landscape, which became a place of pilgrimage for German romantic artists (Zingg, Friedrich, Carus, Oehme, Blechen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Ruina
Ruins of the Gothic castle and monastery in Oyb\u00edn (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, Hvozd of Oybin \/ 5.7.1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, Castle Chapel in Oyb\u00edn \/ 4.7.1810 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, The Dreamer (1818)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

From Oyb\u00edn we will take the red trail to the Zittau Mountains to the rock town Potter <\/em>(582 m) with a rock gate and further along the yellow path to the rock needle Scharfenstein<\/em> (569 m). From here we will follow the green path to the Lv\u00ed buk border crossing, then to Popova skala (Pop's Rock) <\/em>(565 m) and from there follow the blue line to Hradek nad Nisou<\/em>From the center of Hr\u00e1dek we will take the green path along the Lusatian Nisa River to the castle. Grabstein<\/em>We spend the night at Grab\u0161tejnsk\u00fd pond or a little further at Wenceslas Dam<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth day \/ Wednesday, August 24 (27 km) \/ Grab\u0161tejn, Jizera Mountains beech forests, Old\u0159ichovsk\u00fd \u0160pi\u010d\u00e1k<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, from Grab\u0161tejn or from Wenceslas Dam, we will set off along the green trail via the ridgeline through V\u00e1clavice to the hill. Views<\/em>, from where there is a beautiful view of Poland to Jasn\u00e1 G\u00f3ra (where the geopark is located) and also to the open-pit brown coal mine in Tur\u00f3w and the thermal power plant in Bogatynia, which are constantly destroying the local landscape. We will then go through Horn\u00ed V\u00edtkov to Albrechtice near Fr\u00fddlant<\/em>, after which we enter the westernmost and least known part of the Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Hrad<\/a>
Grab\u0161tejn Castle (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Skaln\u00ed<\/a>
Rock gate under Old\u0159ichovsk\u00fd \u0160pi\u010d\u00e1k<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sk\u00e1la<\/a>
Gorilla Rock near Kop\u0159ivn\u00edk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We will continue through the forest, following the green path, until we reach the Oldrichovsky Spicak <\/em>(724 m), where we enter the area Jizera Mountains beech forests.<\/em> It is a site of world importance, which is part of the UNESCO natural and cultural heritage; it is the largest natural forest in terms of area and one of the largest nature reserves in our country (950 ha). In addition to beautiful beech forests, there are various groups of granite rocks and boulders. We climb to Oldrichovsky Spicak<\/em> or we will pass Through the Rock Gate <\/em>and we will continue on the green to To the rock castle<\/em> except for Hives <\/em>(598 m) and to the Old\u0159ichovsk\u00e9 saddle. From here we follow the blue trail along the Old Pilgrimage Road to Hejnice, where in the meadows near King's Grove<\/em> We are staying overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jizerskohorsk\u00e9
Jizera Mountains beech forests (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fifth day \/ Thursday, August 25 (23 km) \/ Hejnice, Pali\u010dn\u00edk, Jizerka<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the morning we will set off via Hejnice past the Baroque Franciscan monastery with the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, which its author, architect Anton\u00edn Haffenecker, uniquely placed in the landscape of the Jizera Mountains. From Hejnice we will continue along the yellow trail via White Creek <\/em>and then further through the Jizera Mountains beech forests to The scythe<\/em> (944 m), from where there is a unique view of the entire Fr\u00fddlant region and the opposite peak of the Jizera. From Pali\u010dn\u00edk we will take the ridge trail along the blue and then the red trail along the peat bogs of the Jizera River to Poacher's stones<\/em> (975 m) and on Deer Hill<\/em> (1018 m), from where we descend to the settlement Jizera <\/em>under the mountain top Beech <\/em>(1005 m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Kl\u00e1\u0161ter<\/a>
Franciscan monastery with the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hejnice (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pali\u010dn\u00edk<\/a>
Pali\u010dn\u00edk \u2013 a rocky viewpoint on the slope of Kl\u00ednov\u00fd vrch (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pytl\u00e1ck\u00e9<\/a>
Poacher's stones on the Jizera Ridge (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Osada<\/a>
The settlement of Jizerka in the valley of the Jizerka River (reprophoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Settlement Jizera<\/em> is the highest village in the Czech Republic (850 m); it was named after the Jizera mountain. In the 16th century it was the seat of hunters, hunters who usually hunted songbirds; later it was settled by loggers and collectors of precious stones. In the 19th century, two glassworks were founded here, one of which is still in use today. The dominant feature of the Jizera Mountains, Bukovec Hill, is one of the highest basalt igneous rocks in Central Europe. Right in the village there is a strictly protected upolin meadow and peat bog of the Jizera River. We will sleep under the peak of Bukovec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixth day \/ Friday, August 26 (25 km) \/ Owce Skaly, Szrenica, Czech hut, Elbe spring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From Bukovec, we can set off in the morning to the sources of the Elbe River in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains via two alternative routes. Either we can take the shorter route through Poland, from where CD Friedrich undoubtedly headed to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains; it leads through Owce Rocks<\/em> up to the border crossing Szrenica<\/em> and then through \u010cesk\u00e1 budka and to the source of the Elbe; length 17 km. Or we can go on the Czech side along the Jizera River to Martin Valley<\/em>, cross the Jizera here and continue through Harrachov and beyond through the Mumlava valley<\/em> up to sources of the Elbe<\/em>; this route is 23 km long. We will spend the night in Voseck\u00e9 bouda<\/em>, 2.5 km from Labsk\u00e1 louka, where accommodation is the cheapest (450 CZK per night in your own sleeping bag).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, The Source of the Elbe (1810), private collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Caspar David Friedrich arrived with his friend Georg Kersting at to the sources of the Elbe<\/strong> July 10, 1810, as evidenced by Friedrich's pencil drawing (now in the Essen Museum), on the basis of which he created a watercolor of the same motif in the same year (see reproduction). The first plan of this painting is occupied by a vast green Elbe meadow, in the lower right corner of which is the source of the Elbe, over which leans the figure of a meditating, half-seated pilgrim in city clothes and with a hat leaning on a stick. Behind the meadow in the background rises the wavy gray wall of the Giant Mountains (from which the peak of Sn\u011b\u017eka rises to the left behind). The mountains are slightly frosted with a whitish veil of rising morning fog. It is the time before sunrise, the first rays of which timidly touch some parts of the mountain slopes in the background. The artist later varied this motif in two paintings "The fog is rising in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains" <\/strong>(1820) and "Remembering the Giant Mountains" <\/strong>(1835), in which the dominant motif was the misty mountains in the background, which the artist dramatically dramatized in shape and, above all, color. In the first painting, Friedrich narrowed the foreground of the meadow with the Elbe spring, omitted the figure of the pilgrim, and piled several boulders in its left part, which he had noted in one of his watercolors during his travels.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"C.
CD Friedrich, Memory of the Giant Mountains, 1835; Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drawings from the journey:<\/strong> Friedrich and Kersting set off on their journey <\/em>from Vansdorf through the Lusatian Mountains. On July 2 or 3, they crossed the Czech-Saxon border at Waltersdorf and via Jonsdorf reached Oyb\u00edn on July 4, where they spent two days. <\/em><\/strong>From Oyb\u00edn to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains, their pilgrimage is documented by several drawings and watercolors by Friedrich, as well as one drawing by Kersting. They show that they left Oyb\u00edn on July 5; on July 6, Friedrich drew a view of the Jizera Mountains from Hr\u00e1dek nad Nisou; on July 8, two of his drawings of the ascent along the forested slopes of the Krkono\u0161e Mountains are dated; and on July 10, as we already know, both pilgrims reached the sources of the Elbe. On July 11, Friedrich's pencil drawing of a view of the Krkono\u0161e ridges is dated, a motif that the artist depicted in his painting "Morning in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains" (1810). On July 12, he sketched two, or rather three, watercolor drawings of the Krkono\u0161e boulders (see below). And on 13 July there is a dated pencil drawing of a view of the Giant Mountains from the Polish side from the town of Kowary with the figure of a pilgrim (which he converted into a coloured watercolour). On 17 July he created a drawing of a pilgrim sitting on a group of boulders by the forest (see below), a scene that probably no longer originates from the Giant Mountains. Kersting's beautiful coloured watercolour from 18 July, depicting the wandering CD Friedrich (see below), seems to sum up and conclude the entire joint journey of the two friends through the Giant Mountains.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, watercolor of boulders and trees and the figure of a pilgrim from the summits of the Krkono\u0161e Mountains from 12 July 1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, watercolor of boulders and trees and the figure of a pilgrim from the summits of the Krkono\u0161e Mountains from 12 July 1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, drawing of boulders with the figure of a pilgrim \/ from the trip to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains from 17. 7. 1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"G.
GF Kersting, CD Friedrich \/ from the trip to the Krkono\u0161e Mountains, 18. 7. 1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Seventh day \/ Saturday, August 27 (26 km) \/ Snow Pits, Big and Small Ponds, Karpacz<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From Voseck\u00e1 bouda we head towards Elbe Waterfall <\/em>above the Labsk\u00fd d\u016fl and then along the yellow line over High plain<\/em> (1497 m) to Snow pits<\/em>We will continue along the red trail below the Vysok\u00fd kolo (1509) to Velk\u00fd \u0160i\u0161\u00e1k (1410) and across Male stones<\/em> (1417) and the Maiden's Stones (1414) up to Petrovka.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"C.
CD Friedrich, Morning in the Giant Mountains, 1810 \/ Charlottenburg Palace Berlin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The distinctive granite boulder formations on the ridges of the Krkono\u0161e Mountains, especially the Men's Stones, as well as the deep glacial crater of the Snow Pits, greatly impressed Friedrich, and he incorporated their motifs into two of his symbolic paintings with which he celebrated the Krkono\u0161e Mountains. In the painting "Morning in the Giant Mountains" <\/strong>(1810) placed before a scene of misty, widely graduated mountain ridges in the rising morning sun \u2013 which CG Carus compared to \u201cthe gently raised ridges of calmly flowing sea waves\u201d \u2013 the motif of a high jagged rock with a crucifix and a pair of a man and a woman climbing up to it. The painting expresses a spiritual transcendence, carried by the entire awakening landscape. A similar tension is observed in the painting "Morning in the Mountains" <\/strong>(1823), in the first plan of which a view opens into a deep abyss between two sharp rocky outcrops, which introduces a moment of typically romantic contradiction, uncertainty of existence, into the idyllic scene with two shepherdesses, which the author placed on the top of one of the rocks. Friedrich fully developed this motif in the painting "Chalk Cliffs on R\u00fcgen" (1818).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Mu\u017esk\u00e9<\/a>
Male stones in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sn\u011b\u017en\u00e9<\/a>
Snow pits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"C.<\/a>
CD Friedrich, Morning in the mountains, 1823 \/ St. Petersburg Hermitage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Petrovka we continue along the red path through Silesian saddle<\/em> up to To the noon stones<\/em> under Silver-backed <\/em>(1489 m) and to glacial lakes Big pond<\/em> and Small pond<\/em> (Wielki and Maly stav). The Large Pond is the largest glacial lake in the Krkono\u0161e Mountains with an area of 8.3 hectares and a depth of up to 24 meters. We will go around both ponds from above and go down to the Small Pond, from where we will continue down the blue and yellow to the Polish spa town and tourist center Karpacz<\/em>where we spend the night in a tourist hostel or in a meadow in the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Ludwig
Ludwig Richter, Lake in the Giant Mountains, 1839 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Small pond<\/strong> (They had a low status)<\/strong> was depicted in 1839 in the charming romantic painting \u201cLake in the Giant Mountains\u201d by Friedrich\u2019s Dresden colleague and friend, the painter Adrian Ludwig Richter (1803-1884). Later, it was also depicted in their paintings and prints by the Czech painters of the late 19th century Julius Ma\u0159\u00e1k and Otakar Lebeda. Friedrich\u2019s painting from 1821 \u201cStretching Clouds\u201d with the motif of a mountain eye evokes the impression of the Giant Mountains landscape, in which it is also often situated by most art historians. The character of the depicted mountain landscape, whose terrain drops significantly, is reminiscent of the Giant Mountains; however, the location of the lake in an open green meadow does not directly refer to the situation of the Small Pond. Nevertheless, it could be an evocative painting that, as is typical for Friedrich, combines motifs from two landscapes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Mal\u00fd<\/a>
Small pond (Maly staw), with the peak of Sn\u011b\u017eka in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"C.<\/a>
CD Friedrich, The Drifting Clouds (1821)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

"When a scene is shrouded in fog, it seems larger, more sublime, heightening the viewer's imagination and anticipation - like a veiled girl. In general, the eye and imagination are more easily attracted by a hazy distance than by what is perfectly visible to all."<\/p>Caspar David Friedrich<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

"Despite what many artists think, art is not and should not be a mere skill. In fact, it should be completely and utterly the language of our feelings, our moods, even our piety and our prayers."<\/p>Caspar David Friedrich<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eighth day \/ Sunday, August 28 (28 km) \/ Karpacz, Kowary, Horn\u00ed Mar\u0161ov<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Karpacz we will see a unique monument of Scandinavian sacral architecture from the 12th century, which was moved to Karpacz from Norway in 1842. It is a so-called stavkirke, an all-wooden column church of Viking origin, which was located in the fishing village of Vang in southern Norway; hence its current name. Wang<\/strong>In 1841, it was saved from destruction by a prominent Norwegian painter. Johan Christian Dahl<\/strong>, professor at the Dresden Academy and friend and pupil of Caspar David Friedrich. Dahl, with the support of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV., secured the purchase, dismantling and careful documentation of all parts of the building and sought to have it moved to Oslo; when this plan failed, he secured the transport of the building to Berlin. At the request of Countess Friederika Karolina von Reden of Bukowce, the king finally donated the church to the Krkono\u0161e village of Karpacz, where the newly built and reconstructed building was consecrated in 1844; since then it has served Evangelicals to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n
Wang Church in Karpacz (all reproduction photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The so-called stavkirke, or pillar church, is a type of building whose roof is not supported by external walls, but by tall columns. There were once thousands of such buildings in Norway, but only thirty of them have survived to this day. For Norway, these are monuments of paramount importance. The church building is built of Norwegian pine and no nails were used in it. Several original wooden elements have been preserved inside: 4 corner columns, 4 interior columns, 2 columns at the entrance to the choir and portals, which are richly decorated with floral and animal motifs and runic writing. Next to the church is a granite tower that protects the wooden building from gusts of mountain wind. Wang Church is also known as the Church of Happy Marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"C.
CD Friedrich, Moon over the Giant Mountains, 1810<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After visiting the Wang Church, we will follow the green and yellow signs to the neighboring village. Kowary,<\/em> where the painters Caspar David Friedrich and Georg Friedrich Kersting reached during their journey through the Giant Mountains. From these places we will be able to see the Giant Mountains from a more distant perspective, from which Friedrich depicted them in some of his last drawings and paintings from this journey. That is, as a wall of swelling massive mountains with the dominant peak of Sn\u011b\u017eka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Kowars <\/em>we will follow the green and yellow to Border huts<\/em> and from there on to Mal\u00e1 \u00dapa and through Horn\u00ed and Doln\u00ed Lyse\u010diny to Horn\u00ed Mar\u0161ov<\/em>from where we will return to Prague by bus. (Alternative route: follow the yellow route to the Krkono\u0161e National Park and then the blue ridge route to Svorowa Mountain<\/em>From there we will go over the Giant Ridge to Snow White<\/em> and then follow the yellow path across the R\u016f\u017eov\u00e1 hora to R\u016f\u017eovohorky and then follow the green path to Furnaces under Sn\u011b\u017ekou<\/em>. And from there return to Prague by bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"C.
CD Friedrich, Mountain Landscape with a Pilgrim (1810) Pushkin Museum in Moscow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Connections from Horn\u00ed Mar\u0161ov to Prague on 28. 8.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n