Lost Places in the Czech Republic: These once magnificent places are now deserted

The Czech Republic isn't just home to good beer and delicious dumplings; it also boasts some truly cool lost places. From old churches nestled on islands to abandoned swimming pools and bunkers, you'll find it all.

We'll introduce you to the coolest destinations in more detail and delve into the history of the abandoned places.

We'll start off on a spooky note: In western Bohemia, specifically in Luková, there's an abandoned church that looks quite harmless at first glance. But anyone who enters the interior is sure to get a real fright. Someone has draped ghost figures on the pews.

Like so many buildings, the church burned down around 1797. Afterward, it was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque styles. But at some point, no one cared for the church anymore. In 1968, the roof collapsed, and the building was left to its own devices.

It was design student Jakub Hadrava who began installing the seated and standing figures in 2012. They are intended to commemorate the former German residents of the town until 1945. This attracted more people to the church, and the donations collected made it possible to replace the roof.

Stadiums are usually lively places with a lively atmosphere. Things are different at the Za Lužánkami football stadium: Here, the cheering has long since died down. It is located in Brno, the second-largest Czech city, specifically in the Královo Pole district. The football club FC Zbrojovka Brno played its home games here until 2001, and there was also once an athletics track and field facility.

But when the football club moved to the renovated Městský fotbalový stadion Srbská, about four kilometers away, the sports venue was closed. All renovation plans failed.

In 2015, there was another campaign, initiated by player Petr Švancara and fans who wanted to make the stadium playable again, removing bushes and young trees from the stands. The football player's farewell match took place on June 27. The facility is still occasionally used for concerts, but for the most part, it has simply become a lost place, increasingly deteriorating.

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There are wonderful spa towns in the Czech Republic, such as Marienbad and Karlovy Vary. There's another one very close by, but it exudes more spooky charm than relaxation. Kyselka seems like a real ghost town, but it was once just as magnificent a spa town. What happened?

Kyselka established itself as a popular spa town in the 19th century, but the springs had been used since the 16th century. In 1867, a man whose name may sound familiar to some: Heinrich Mattoni, leased the area. The mineral water can still be found in some supermarkets today, especially in the Czech Republic. Kyselka owes its numerous villas, pavilions, promenades, and parks to him.

But here, too, the Second World War struck hard, and the town's splendor fell apart. Although the bottling of mineral water continued after 1948, increasing privatization and poor renovations continued to plague the town. Years of disputes and constant changes of ownership finally broke Kyselka's neck. Today, numerous listed buildings stand empty, and spa operations have also ceased. Only Mattoni mineral water is still bottled here.

This lost place is located in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic, more precisely in Mušov. The church itself dates back to the first half of the 13th century and was built as a Romanesque religious building. The crazy thing is: In the late 1970s, it was decided to build several reservoirs in the region, including the Nové Mlýny Reservoir. They were intended to serve as flood protection, for irrigation, and for energy generation.

However, this meant that the village of Mušov had to be completely flooded, forcing the locals to leave their homes. This affected approximately 100 houses. The church, however, remained standing and is today the only building on a small island in the reservoir. This makes it not only an intriguing lost place, but also a memorial to the expulsion of the villagers.

Access is only possible during the summer months, and authorities plan to keep the church open to tourists. At the same time, however, the area's wildlife should be protected. The island is part of a bird sanctuary, so boat crossings are only available between June and September. Exploring the island on your own is prohibited. Tours can be arranged through the tourist office .

Cemeteries are always a wonderful place for people who enjoy a spooky atmosphere. This works even better when they're abandoned. The Bohnický Hřbitov Cemetery once served as a burial site for patients of the nearby Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital. Employees and locals also found their final resting place here.

The last burials took place around 1951, and the cemetery was subsequently abandoned. It covers approximately two and a half hectares and is located in the northern part of Prague. The cemetery is now overgrown; many graves are plain and weathered, and the chapel is now more of a ruin. Locals call it the "Cemetery of the Insane," and numerous legends circulate, including numerous suicides, murders, occult rituals, and ghost sightings.

Curiously, only one grave is still truly well preserved: that of a certain Maria Tůma Reiter, who died in April 1912 at the age of just 29. She was not a patient of the psychiatric hospital, but presumably a local resident. Her grave is still tended to this day and regularly decorated with candles and flowers. The cemetery is not normally open to the public, but guided tours are occasionally offered.

There's also a lost place in the south of Prague that's currently being redeveloped into an actively used area, but the story behind it is nonetheless fascinating: The area was originally developed by architect Max Urban and was inspired by the Cliff House in San Francisco. It was built between 1927 and 1931. The curved terraces and panoramic windows were particularly impressive at the time. It even featured a huge restaurant with space for up to 3,000 people, an indoor swimming pool, dance halls, and a 15-meter-high observation tower.

In the 1930s, this was a meeting place for Prague's elite and filmmakers from the nearby Barrandov Film Studios. After World War II, the complex was nationalized, and the legendary Trilobit Bar was closed. It burned down in 2001, and the area continued to deteriorate. However, enthusiasm for this place grew among the lost-places community.

But that all came to an end when a comprehensive renovation project began in 2016. Currently, the site is being redeveloped into a mix of hotel, restaurant, and residential buildings, gradually returning to its former glory.

But there's one last lost place left there: below the terraces, an abandoned swimming pool on a slope directly above the Vltava River. This small outdoor pool has been falling into disrepair since the 1960s and is freely accessible – although there's a risk of collapse in some areas, so caution is advised.

Of course, there are also lost places in the Czech Republic that date back to the Cold War era. One of these is SAM Base Točná. SAM stands for "Surface to Air Missile," or anti-aircraft missiles. The base was part of a system of anti-aircraft missile silos around Prague and was built to defend against possible NATO air attacks.

After 1989, the facility was decommissioned and left to nature. There were a total of ten such facilities around Prague, but only Točná and Miskovice are still open to the public. Those who want to explore will see bunker-like halls, dilapidated missile shelters, and numerous walls covered in graffiti.

The architecture and the concrete-clad shelters provide insight into the preparations for possible attacks during the Cold War. The facility is located slightly elevated on a hill and can be reached on foot via small paths. There are no publicly available images of the facility, but those who would like to get a glimpse of it in advance can visit the Pepper Urbex website .

Hidden away in the Orlické Hory, the Eagle Mountains, is a bunker complex that has an almost futuristic appearance. The artillery fortress is part of the Czechoslovak pre-war fortifications from 1935 to 1938 and, together with Hůrka, another complex, forms one of the largest fortifications of its kind. There are five massive bunkers, all connected underground and now open to the public.

The construction is particularly robust, with some facades up to three and a half meters thick. They are embedded deep into the mountain and feature numerous underground halls and tunnels, through which guided tours are also offered. This is not just a lost place, but also functions as a museum and is now a technical monument.

You can reach the village after a hike of about three kilometers if you start at Suchý vrch and then follow the red-marked hiking trail.

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