13th–15th century
The Middle Ages
The origins of the pilgrimage site go back to the 13th century when, according to legend, a butcher's journeyman from Sokolov found a miraculous Gothic statue of the seated Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in a hazel bush on Chlum hill. The statue repeatedly returned to the place where it had been found, which was seen as a sign from God. A cooper's journeyman who lost his way here towards the end of the 13th century built a wooden chapel over it, and believers from all around began to make pilgrimages to it. The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star from nearby Kynšperk nad Ohří soon took the site into their care.
Next to the chapel the village of Chlum grew up, first recorded in writing on 16 May 1341. As the number of pilgrims grew, so did the number of robbers attacking them in the surrounding forests. In 1383 the local nobleman Heinrich of Reissengrün therefore gave the Order 60 acres of land and founded an endowment at the chapel for two priests, who were obliged to celebrate perpetual Masses. When Heinrich's line died out, his childless son left the whole estate to the Order, which soon established a convent here.
Around 1400 a Gothic stone church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and St Mary Magdalene, with a tower on its west front, was built on the site of the wooden chapel. A parish was established, and in 1401 the first parish priest of Chlum was appointed – Johann Pichlmann, a Knight of the Cross. During the Hussite Wars the church was looted and burnt in June 1429. After the wars it was restored, and in 1469 the Grand Master Nikolaus Puchner freed the local people from labour duties so that they could rebuild the church and serve the pilgrims; he also granted them the right to hold markets during pilgrimages. Between 1482 and 1492 the church was enlarged into a two-aisled building, and in 1499 the Chapel of the Three Kings was added to its south.
16th–17th century
The early modern period and the Estates' Revolt
During the 16th century Protestant hostility towards traditional pilgrimages grew. On 4 October 1618, shortly after the outbreak of the Bohemian Estates' Revolt, Chlum was captured and plundered by rebel noblemen. The church's most important documents and treasures had been taken to Cheb beforehand – but in 1645 they were completely destroyed in the great fire of the town, together with 52 houses. For several months a Protestant preacher was installed at the church.
After the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the situation began to improve, and the pilgrimage church was restored with donations from the faithful. In 1651 the Grand Master, Archbishop Harrach, raised Chlum to the status of a market town and granted it its own seal: a red cross and star above three golden hills. In 1664–1666, at the request of Countess Eleonora Susanne Frankenburg, Archbishop Harrach had a new free-standing Baroque Chapel of Grace built in front of the church, and the precious statue of the Virgin Mary was moved into it. It was solemnly opened in 1666.
1687–1728
Baroque flowering
The year 1687 became a turning point in the history of the site. The Catholic revival brought a great flowering of Marian devotion and pilgrimage, and the Gothic church could no longer hold the ever-growing crowds. The Archbishop of Prague and Grand Master of the Order, Johann Friedrich of Waldstein, therefore raised the parish of Chlum to a provostship, and a large-scale rebuilding of the whole complex began.
The new pilgrimage church was built to plans by the High Baroque architect Christoph Dientzenhofer; his design was carried out and later revised by the builder Wolfgang Leonhardt Braunbock. The foundation stone was laid in 1687. The two-towered façade went up in 1687–1691, the rebuilt Chapel of Grace was opened in 1692, and the main nave was built in 1692–1702. The presbytery was completed in 1694, and on 11 May 1702 the church was solemnly consecrated by Veit, auxiliary bishop of Prague.
The magnificent three-aisled Baroque church with its two-towered façade, transept and octagonal dome made the site even more famous. Between 1701 and 1710 a total of 1,657 processions with some 718,347 pilgrims came to the church. Building work continued on the surrounding complex: the old provost's house was built in 1701–1702, a new school in 1722, a symmetrical open cloister with six side chapels around the church in 1704–1728, and in 1723–1728 the three-winged new provost's residence forming the whole northern side of the complex. Construction was completed in 1728.
1728–1900
The 18th and 19th centuries
Pilgrimage here reached its peak in the second half of the 18th century, when Chlum Svaté Maří was one of the most visited pilgrimage places in Bohemia. Although the Josephine reforms (1785–1795) banned all pilgrimages, between 39,000 and 56,000 pilgrims still came every year.
During the 19th century the number of pilgrimages declined slightly, and after decades of heavy use the complex needed a thorough renovation, which took place in 1877–1894. For the 200th anniversary of the provostship in 1887, Countess Auersperg of Hartberg organised a large collection and lottery to fund the restoration; the town of Karlovy Vary was among the generous supporters. In 1895 a new organ with 1,600 pipes and 65 stops was installed by the Cheb organ builder Martin Zaus.
1938–1990
The 20th century – loss and decline
Pilgrimage declined dramatically after 1938, when the Cheb region, as part of the Sudetenland, was annexed to the German Reich. After the Second World War and the forced expulsion of the German population, the religious community that had kept the pilgrimage tradition alive for centuries disappeared. After the Knights of the Cross left, the Dominicans briefly took over pastoral care, but eventually pilgrimages here ceased altogether.
In the late 1950s the former provost's residence was turned into a hostel for workers building the Tisová power station, and later used as a depository for church art. Although the entire complex was entered on the state list of cultural monuments on 3 May 1958, it fell into disrepair without anyone to care for it. From 1957 to 1974 pastoral care was provided by Fr Petr Metoděj Habáň, one of the few active priests in the area.
