Albrechtice nad Vltavou - cemetery grounds

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Albrechtice nad Vltavou is one of the most significant Romanesque buildings in South Bohemia. Inside, you will find, among other things, a rare cycle of frescoes from the time of construction depicting the Last Judgment. A complete rarity is the set of chapels at the adjoining cemetery, which not only feature paintings but also include poetic testimonies from the lives of the deceased, handwritten by the local priest in the mid-19th century.

The history of the paintings in the arcade chapels on the cemetery wall begins in 1841. Between 1819 and 1854, the parish priest Vít Cíza served here, and he came up with the idea to build arcaded chapels with paintings to commemorate the deceased. The first group of three paintings was created in 1841, and five years later the rest of the chapels had already been painted on the cemetery wall. The verses below the paintings were originally composed for each deceased person, and most were written by Father Cíza. Significant modifications were made already in the mid-19th century, when the number of chapels settled at 85.