Statue of Faith with Saints John and Paul

The Statue of Faith with Saints John and Paul stands on the southern edge of Český Dub, a small town in the Liberec Region of northern Bohemia that has long sat on a branch of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. It's a modest but worthwhile stop for anyone walking the Way of St. James through the Ještěd foothills.

What does the statue group actually show?

The monument is a group of three figures. At the centre stands a female figure personifying Faith — locally also identified with St. Luitgard — flanked by St. John and St. Paul. This kind of arrangement, pairing a personified virtue with two apostolic saints, was a common format for roadside devotional monuments once erected along important routes and pilgrimage trails across northern Bohemia.

Where exactly is it located in Český Dub?

The statue stands on a slope at the junction of Prouskova and Na Zhůrách streets, south of the town centre. This spot sits directly on a red- and blue-marked hiking trail that doubles as a stretch of the Czech Way of St. James (Svatojakubská cesta). For a visitor, that means the statue is easy to catch almost in passing while walking or cycling through town toward Ještěd or the Jizera Mountains.

Why are there three identical statues?

Here's the more curious detail: the Český Dub statue isn't one of a kind. Nearly identical groups — with the same trio of figures, Faith at the centre and John and Paul on either side — also stand near Osečná and in Hodkovice nad Mohelkou, on Liberecká street. This repetition suggests all three were commissioned together, or produced by the same workshop serving the surrounding parishes, though no documented source currently records the exact date, sculptor, or material of any of the three. Anyone planning a longer trip through the Ještěd foothills could treat visiting all three sites as its own small themed trail.

How to get there and what to expect on a visit?

The easiest approach is on foot or by bike — Český Dub sits on the network of trails connecting Liberec with the Ještěd ridge, and the statue itself stands right at one of the town's main trail junctions. It's worth carrying a map of the surrounding routes, since the Way of St. James continues on through neighbouring villages where similar roadside shrines and figures turn up. The monument itself is unfenced and free to visit, accessible year-round as an everyday part of the townscape.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the central figure in the statue group? The central figure is Faith (Víra), a personified virtue also identified in local tradition with St. Luitgard.

Is this the only statue of its kind in Český Dub? Yes, there is one example in the town itself, but nearly identical statue groups also stand near Osečná and in Hodkovice nad Mohelkou.

Does a marked hiking trail pass by the statue? Yes, the site lies on a red- and blue-marked trail that forms part of the Czech branch of the Way of St. James.

Do we know who made the statue or when it was created? No — available sources don't record the sculptor's name, the exact date of creation, or the material used.