Lovers of Stone Monuments, Especially Reconciliation Crosses, are attracted to Protivec

In the southeastern tip of the Karlovy Vary district, roughly half way from Žlutice to Chyš, lies the small village of Protivec The village, first mentioned in writing as early as 1226, had more than 350 inhabitants even before the Second World War (28 of them stated Czechoslovak nationality).

Now less than eight dozen people live here, and since 1975 the village has been one of the nine local parts of the city of Žlutice Protivec became widely known in 1990, when local enthusiasts excavated a monument to TG Masaryk.

The work of the Karlovy Vary amateur sculptor Václav Koblížek, ceremoniously unveiled shortly after the "Victory February" on July 14, 1948, awaited a similar fate during the Communist rule, as everything that was supposed to remind the person and significance of the first Czechoslovak president The unkempt surroundings of the monument are overgrown with rust, the fence fell apart and the president's bust "fell into the ground" at the turn of 1964 and 1965 under circumstances still unclear.

Her rediscovery on October 27, 1990 was a great celebration for the entire village However, Protivec is also something of a "pilgrimage place" for lovers of small stone monuments, especially reconciliation crosses.

There are three of them on the cadastre of the village The Soks killed themselves over a game of cards A visitor to Protivce encounters the first of them on the eastern edge of the village on the way to Chyš.

Here, opposite the homestead No 82, there is a granite cross, which has a clear image of a bent saber in a horizontal position engraved on the forehead.

According to local legend, this cross was meant to commemorate the fight between a miller and a butcher's journeyman It ended with the death of both saps.

In another variant, however, the priest and the baker, who did not get along at cards, were supposed to kill each other A few centimeters below the crossing of the arms, a circular hole with a diameter of 22 centimeters is cut in the axis of the cross, which is an unmistakable sign that the cross was made of millstone.

The cross, popularly called "Mlýnský", originally stood a few meters further away, where it was drawn in 1906 by the pioneer of research on peace crosses in Karlovy Vary, prof Franz Wilhelm, it was moved to its current location in 1912 during the construction of the road to Chyš.

Another millstone was placed along with it, or in the cover behind it Its opening is concentric with the opening of the cross, and the torso of the stone, which, according to local tradition, was supposed to represent a butcher's log or, according to another version, a loaf of bread.

At the beginning of the 70s of the last century, the cross was for the most part buried below ground level, in the light of God it was helped at that time by Miroslav Janák, a priest from Žultice, together with Antonín Málk, an old resident of Protivice Peace crosses fell into oblivion after the war.

The second peace cross stands less than five hundred meters away from the built-up part of the village on the left side of the road to Chyš, in a group around the "Scherzer" cross restored in 2010 This one too originally stood in a different place, on the map of the stable of the village cadastre from 1841 is drawn in pencil on the eastern bank of the "Upper" pond near the municipal chapel of St.

Wenceslas It was moved to its current location sometime at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was planted "upside down" as one of the fence posts around the "Scherzer" cross.

It was recorded here for the first time in 1906 by prof Wilhelm and after him other researchers, most recently Karel Šrámek in 1945.

After the Second World War and the forced exchange of population in the entire area, care for small church monuments in the countryside dropped to zero The crosses around Protivec met the same fate - sprawled and overgrown with rust, they slowly fell into oblivion.

It was not until the new millennium that the civic association Protivecké kříje took care of the repair, which together with others repaired the "Scherzer's" cross In 2010, during the work on its restoration, the peace cross was also lifted from the ground, which was then put back in its place after proper treatment, but already in the normal position with the head up.

There are several theories about the origin of the cross It stands about a kilometer to the southeast, just off the road from Žlutice to Chyš.

The nearly one and a half meter tall granite cross with rounded arms is considered one of the most beautiful crosses in Karlovy Vary It is the only one in the region that has a Czech inscription.

In the upper part is the year, which is most often read as 1571, and a fragment, which reads "KLYRZ Z TAVZIMA KILLED W SATURDAY AFTER THE ASSUMPTION PA MA BEZ" The text on the cross also agrees with the folk tradition, according to which the butcher or butcher's journeyman Johann Klyrz z Toužimi should have been killed in these places in 1571 on the Saturday after the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The symbol of an ax engraved in the lower part of the cross, similar to the emblem of the butcher's guild, is interpreted as proof However, there are more theories about the origin of the cross, prof.

For example, Wilhelm states in 1901 that the cross is locally known as "cholera" or "plague" or "white", which proves that it was, among other things, also considered a war memorial, and these were once painted white According to some authorities, the motif of the ax can also have a different meaning, which can also be interpreted as a symbol of a murder weapon, or even as a warning sign that was supposed to scare everyone, who would try to steal or damage the cross.

Karel Šrámek came up with the boldest theory when he reconstructed (in the opinion of contemporary researchers incorrectly) the first two lines of the inscription in the form "1571 KATERINA KLVRZ Z TAVZEMA" in 1945, from which one could conclude that the victim could have been a woman .