This year the gothic castle chapel, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, opened its door as part of the Night of Churches festival.
Two musical works by Leoš Janáček were played in the chapel: One of them is the composition “Ave Maria”, which the composer personally dedicated to countess Leopoldine Serényi* intended to be performed at a charity concert in Luhačovice.
It was in Luhačovice that the first compositions for the “Glagolitic Mass” were created, which the chapel visitors were able to listen to as the second piece of music. One of the important stimuli for Janáček’s preoccupation with this subject was the strong Cyril-Methodist Moravian tradition combined with his affection for the Slavic people in the spirit of pan-Slavism. The Glagolitic Mass combines the traditional Catholic Mass performed in Old Slavonic with a living tradition.
* Countess Leopoldíne Serényi née Harrach (1872–1917) was the wife of the penultimate owner of the estates Lomnice and Luhačovice before the expropriation, the (last) Moravian governor count Otto Serényi. She was highly engaged in charity work. During the First World War, she herself treated wounded soldiers in military hospitals.