The Lost Village of Kapličky near Loučovice

Kapličky (German: Kapellen) was a village located southwest of Vyšší Brod at an altitude of 950 m above sea level. It likely emerged in the second half of the 13th century along the so-called Helfenberg route connecting Altenfelden and Vyšší Brod. By 1530, a local magistrate was already established, and the village gradually prospered. It had a parish church, a glassworks, and peat was harvested from the nearby peat bog.

As the village had an overwhelmingly German population, most of the residents were forcibly expelled to Austria after World War II. Although new settlers arrived, their numbers were steadily reduced through state pressure and administrative decisions until the village was officially dissolved and incorporated into the municipality of Loučovice. A strict border zone was established in its place.

The village was completely destroyed, with only the foundations of the church and a few houses remaining. Today, a single hunting lodge and a rusted watchtower from the Iron Curtain era stand on the former village grounds. After the Velvet Revolution, the area was reopened. A stone cross was erected at the village site, and a wayside shrine with a bench and large boulders offers beautiful views of the Kapličky peat bog and the pond near the breached dam. Several marked hiking trails (with signposts) now cross the area, which is popular with tourists, cyclists (who use the asphalt road once built for border guards), and the descendants of former residents.