Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul (Jejkov)

The Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul sits tucked into the corner of the old Capuchin monastery wall on the Jejkov hill in Třebíč. It's an easy building to walk past without a second glance, yet its story reaches back further than the monastery church next door and ties directly into one of the more sobering chapters of the town's history.

Who built the chapel, and why here?

The chapel was funded in 1657 by Pavel Blažek, a miller who lived on Jejkov. The spot wasn't picked at random. On the third day after Easter in 1629, this was where non-Catholic residents of Třebíč and the surrounding area gathered to say farewell to their town and homeland before being driven into exile. Before the crowd of exiles crossed the Jihlava River and headed east, they were addressed by two preachers, Vavřinec Justýn and Jakub Petrozelin, known as Kunštátský. Like the monastery church built decades later nearby, the chapel was meant to mark the return of the Catholic Church to the town — a point spelled out in the Latin inscription above the entrance: "Anno, quo alma fides renata Trebicii," roughly "the year in which the nourishing faith was reborn in Třebíč."

What did the original chapel look like?

In its original form, the chapel was built as a loggia — open on three sides, with only the wall facing the river enclosed. A small altar stood at its centre, holding a painting of Saints Peter and Paul. That painting is the work of Josef Kozlanský, a teacher at the Třebíč grammar school between 1901 and 1907, meaning it was added well after the chapel itself was built, likely replacing earlier decoration.

How has the chapel changed over the centuries?

The building went through several rounds of work. The first recorded renovation dates to 1829. During a second one in 1875, the three open sides of the loggia were bricked up, giving the chapel the enclosed, single-room form it largely still has today. The biggest change, though, came in 1938: when the town built its new sewage system, the chapel was moved from its original spot — roughly where the streets Smila Osovského and Kateřiny z Valdštejna meet today — to its current position against the monastery wall. Most recently, a full restoration ran from 2021 to 2025, with the newly restored chapel reopened to the public on 18 June 2025.

Where exactly is the chapel located?

It stands in Třebíč, in the Vysočina region, at coordinates 49.214181 N, 15.887231 E — just a short walk from the Church of the Transfiguration, with which it shares the former Capuchin monastery grounds on Jejkov, even though the two are entirely separate buildings.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same building as the Church of the Transfiguration on Jejkov? No. They are two distinct structures within the same former Capuchin monastery complex. The Chapel of Saints Peter and Paul is much smaller and older, funded in 1657, while the monastery church wasn't consecrated until 1693.

Why was the chapel built at this exact spot? Because it marks the place where, in 1629, non-Catholic residents of Třebíč said their final goodbyes before being forced into exile. The miller Pavel Blažek commemorated the site with the chapel roughly three decades later.

Has the chapel always stood where it is now? No — it originally stood closer to the river, near today's intersection of Smila Osovského and Kateřiny z Valdštejna streets. It was relocated in 1938 during construction of the town's sewer system.

What does the Latin inscription over the entrance mean? "Anno, quo alma fides renata Trebicii" marks the year the Catholic faith was restored in Třebíč, referencing the return of Catholicism after the Counter-Reformation period.

Can visitors go inside the chapel today? Following its 2021–2025 restoration, the chapel is occasionally opened to the public and still serves for occasional religious services.