Stonařov can be explored through two distinct themes: religious buildings with different ground plans and the meteorite fall of 1808. The complex of St. Wenceslas Church stands in the town centre; the Muzeum meteoritů Stonařov is devoted to a natural event in the town’s history. You can therefore choose between a focus on architectural history and one on meteorites.

Religious Buildings: Ground Plan, Materials and History

St. Wenceslas Church dates from the 13th century and is a plastered, single-nave masonry building with a rectangular ground plan. These features describe different aspects of the building: the ground plan refers to its rectangular layout, “single-nave” to the division of the church interior, and the plaster defines its exterior surface. This takes the description from the overall form to the construction method, rather than classifying the church only by its age.

The charnel house stands near the church. This late-Romanesque ossuary chapel resembles a rotunda and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It also dates from the 13th century. Its circular nave is built of local stone; the later presbytery has a pentagonal ground plan. Comparing it with the rectangular church highlights the different architectural forms: in the charnel house, the round main section stands alongside the later, pentagonal presbytery.

Kalvárie and Other Religious Monuments

The chapel on Kalvárie, with its Stations of the Cross, stands on a hill northeast of Stonařov. The access path is on the southeastern side of the site. The older access path is complemented by stone Stations of the Cross. Thus, the stations and path, as well as the chapel, are defining features of this complex. Its hilltop location differs from that of centrally located St. Wenceslas Church.

In the southwestern part of the former cemetery is the Baroque Kalvárie niche chapel, featuring a depiction of the Crucifixion. Its description as a niche chapel and its religious subject give this building a different architectural emphasis from the single-nave church or the rotunda-like charnel house.

The stone Boží muka wayside shrine stands at house no. 3. It was erected in 1647 at the expense of Mathias Eysenbart. The four-sided shrine has a deep niche with a pointed-arch vault. Here, a precise date and the distinctive niche shape draw attention to a single stone monument, while the church and charnel house are each described by their ground plans.

Meteorite Fall and Educational Trail

The small Muzeum meteoritů Stonařov is devoted to the meteorite fall over Stonařov and its surrounding area on 22 May 1808. The date refers to the fall, not the museum’s founding. The museum therefore offers a different thematic focus from the religious buildings: it centres on a natural event with a specific date, rather than the form of a building.

A route description from 2021 lists the Naučná stezka Údolím Jihlávky na Aleje educational trail as a ten-kilometre, easy loop. The route starts in the centre of Stonařov and ends there. The description lists nine stops with information panels in Czech and German. As these details date from 2021, check the current signage and trail conditions before setting out.

A 2026 event notice describes Stonařovské Aleje as an out-and-back route along field and forest paths; 20 per cent of the route is paved. These details refer to the route described there and do not automatically apply to later versions of the route.

Discover more destinations: Horní Dubenky, Telc, Knínice, Borovná, Olšany, Mysletice, Záborná, Vystrčenovice

For the broader travel overview: Okres Jihlava.