Cave of the Blaník Knights in Rudka: what to see

When we had another trip to Brno, we decided to make the most of it and combine business with pleasure. We found a really interesting place that we decided to visit. It was the Cave of the Blaník Knights in Rudka u Kunštátu.

At the ticket office we first bought our tickets and waited with the other visitors for the guide.

The stone lion at the entrance

Even before entering the cave itself, I was struck at first sight by the majestic stone lion right by the narrow door to the underground. 🦁

The guide told us a great story about it. The sculptor, the gifted self-taught Stanislav Rolínek, had never seen a live lion with his own eyes. He carved the lion into the sandstone using only a black-and-white picture as a reference. Even so, he managed to create an incredible work that faithfully guards the entrance to the underground realm.

The stone lion and decorative details at the cave entrance

Entering the underground

I knew it would be cold in the cave, so I was prepared and packed a hoodie in my backpack just in case. Already wearing our hoodies, we went inside with the guide. His storytelling was fascinating, and we learned a lot about the history of the whole place. The artist Stanislav Rolínek created the statues here in the 1920s, commissioned by the Kunštát patron and sausage maker František Burian. 🌡️

The entrance to the cave's underground passage

The fate of sculptor Stanislav Rolínek

What struck me most in the whole story, though, was the fate of the artist himself. Stanislav Rolínek was originally a young upholsterer and a completely self-taught sculptor. Unfortunately, he had suffered from severe tuberculosis since youth. Despite this serious illness, the exhaustion, and the cold underground, he worked on the statues with incredible passion and determination. To carve the soft sandstone, he used nothing but an ordinary fireman’s axe and old scissors. He did his work with love, even though he knew he didn’t have much time left and had to rush to finish it. Sadly, he died very young, at just 29 years old, but he left behind a truly admirable body of work. 🤍

Statues of the Blaník knights

Inside, we saw many beautiful statues of the Blaník knights, who, according to legend, sleep inside the mountain and wait until things go worst for the Czech nation. The main statue is Saint Wenceslas, who watches over his retinue. A huge, fourteen-meter statue of T. G. Masaryk originally stood above the cave as well. At the time, it was the largest statue in Central Europe, and it was also the first work Rolínek ever created. For political reasons it had to be destroyed during the occupation, and today only monumental boots remain on either side of the entrance.

Statues of the Blaník knights and the history of the T. G. Masaryk statue

A walk through the surrounding park

After the cave tour, we had the chance to walk through the adjoining park. It was full of various statues and cute, funny details, like a botanical garden where flowers were planted in old boots. 👞

We also found a wishing stone, where I wrote the word health and my husband wrote the word happiness. 🍀