The Šumava Paths Association will renovate the chapel in the abandoned Šumava village

Prášily - Members of the Šumavské cesty association from Plzeň will start working on the restoration of the chapel of St. Sebastian in the abandoned village of Stodůlky near the border in Klatovy district at the end of August. A memorial site will be established there for the village, which had the second largest cadastral area after Prague just 100 years ago, and for the coexistence of Czechs and Germans. Enthusiasts are collaborating with the Šumava National Park (NPŠ) and the village of Prášily. The entire chapel will not be reconstructed, but only its floor plan will be raised to a height of 40 centimeters, said Pavel Bečvář from the Šumavské cesty association to ČTK.

The chapel had the dimensions of a church measuring 12 by 7 meters. "Next to it, there will be a double negative cross as a dominant feature in memory of the fact that there is nothing left of that huge and significant village. The cross will be in two parts because Czechs and Germans constantly met there," Bečvář stated.

Today, the site is a junction of three roads and neglected land. "We want to remind people that there used to be a village that was the center of the largest Královácká rychta," Bečvář added. The rychta gathered Bohemian settlers, mostly of German nationality, who guarded the border, regional paths, and gold mines. Only remnants of several buildings can still be traced on the site of the former Stodůlky, NPŠ has a shelter for tourists and a sign there.

The chapel was the largest landmark of the village, where 95 percent of the population were Germans. The village, which had about 500 inhabitants just before World War II, ended with the establishment of the Military District of Dobrá voda in the 1950s. The chapel was demolished in 1953. "The Warsaw Pact had exercises there in November 1952, and a Polish general used it to escape over the border. He was found dead from cold in the spring. Then came the order to level all buildings in the military area to the ground so that these people could not hide anywhere," Bečvář said.

"Šumavské cesty already has a project, they are preparing it and want to have the memorial site under patronage. It is on our land, we ensured the survey," said NPŠ director Pavel Hubený. On the overgrown impact area of the former shooting range, especially along the path from Křemelná, there are many warning signs about unexploded ordnance. Šumavské cesty has already installed a bench under the linden tree and a wooden cross on the tree. Especially Germans who have some connection to the former village come there to reminisce.

The association has been working on the restoration of the chapel for four years, and they are only missing the opinions of archaeologists, which will be available soon. There are 44 enthusiasts collecting money in small amounts. "We applied to the region, but it didn't work out. Today we have over 300,000 crowns, but we would need about a million," Bečvář said. He is currently unable to estimate when the project will be completed. If they manage to gather a larger amount, they could finish within a year. "The mayor of Prášily and the park are very supportive of us," he added. NPŠ financed a deep survey at the site where the impact area of the tank shooting range was, costing 100,000 crowns. They allowed the work to start this month and continue until October. "We want to level the terrain so that the people who contributed can see something," Bečvář said.

Enthusiasts who restored the chapel at Zadní Paští in 2011 gather money at various meetings and benefit concerts. They also succeeded in returning the organ to the church in Dobrá Voda.