Church of Saint Leonard

The Church of Saint Leonard is the only building left standing from the vanished village of Mušov, now rising on a small island in the Nové Mlýny reservoir within the municipality of Pasohlávky, Brno-venkov District, South Moravia.

What is this place?

The church was built in the late Romanesque style, most likely during the 1220s or 1230s. It first appears in written records in 1276, already functioning as the parish church of Mušov. In the 14th century, likely following a fire, the building was reworked in the Gothic style — the tall pointed windows of the presbytery and tower, along with facades divided by wide pointed-arch niches with grouped mullioned windows, date from this rebuilding. The church is listed as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Its story is inseparable from the fate of the village it once served. Mušov ceased to exist in the second half of the 20th century, when the area was flooded during the construction of the Nové Mlýny reservoir cascade — a system of dams and lakes built on the Dyje River through the 1970s and 1980s. The village's houses were demolished or submerged, but the protected historic church was left standing. As a result, it now stands alone on an artificial island surrounded by the waters of the Věstonice reservoir, part of the wider Nové Mlýny system.

How do you get there, and can you go inside?

The church is not open to visitors. No bridge connects the island to the mainland, and there is no regular boat or ferry service. In practice, the church is something you view from the shore or from a passing boat rather than a site you enter — a landmark and a piece of local history rather than a walk-in attraction. The best vantage points are along the cycling and walking paths that run along the shores of the Nové Mlýny reservoirs, popular with visitors staying near Pasohlávky and its well-known spa resort.

When is the best time to visit?

The Nové Mlýny reservoirs draw the most visitors between May and September, when the lakeside cycling routes are fully open and water levels make the island easy to spot from a distance. Autumn and winter can offer equally clear views and far fewer crowds, though visitors should expect cooler weather and shorter daylight hours.

Why is this church worth seeing?

It is a rare surviving example of a religious building spared from the deliberate flooding of an entire settlement — the sight of its lone tower rising from the water has become one of the defining images of the Nové Mlýny area, a quiet reminder of the region's mid-20th-century transformation.

Frequently asked questions

Can you go inside the Church of Saint Leonard? No — the church stands on an island with no bridge and no regular boat connection, so entering the building is not possible.

Why does the church stand on an island? Because in the 1970s and 1980s, the village of Mušov, to which it belonged, was flooded during construction of the Nové Mlýny reservoir cascade. Unlike the rest of the village, the protected church was left in place.

What explains the church's current architectural style? It was originally built in the late Romanesque style in the 13th century, then rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14th century, likely after a fire — hence its pointed windows and arch-patterned facades.

What's the best way to see the church if the island itself is off-limits? The clearest views come from the cycling or walking paths along the shore of the Věstonice reservoir, or from a boat on the Nové Mlýny lakes, both of which show the tower and the island as a whole.