THE SCULPTURE OF STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS

Albín Polášek donated the sculpture to the Matice Radhošťská association in 1930. The sculpture is the antithesis of the statue of the pagan god Radegast, emanating brotherhood and desire for unification. The veined hands of the two men imply that they were used to hard work. In the open book held by St. Cyril we can read the first words of St. John’s gospel “In the beginning there was the Word” written in the Glagolitic alphabet, the oldest known Slavonic alphabet. St. Methodius is pointing to the Bible and raising a three-bar Byzantine cross between the haloes.

The hollow sculpture, 2.6m tall and weighing 800kg, was cast in bronze, which, again in contrast with the stone of the Radegast statue, signifies later and higher culture. It rises on a 1.60m high granite foot-stall behind the chapel, on the spot where there used to stand a stone cross. The saints look to the east and to Radegast on the opposite hill and welcome visitors coming to the chapel.