The monumental Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary on the Olomouc's Holy Hill is among the most significant sights of the region.
The establishment of the holy place is connected with the name of the rich Oloumouc wine trader, Jan Andrysk.He promised that, should he became rich, he would have a church built to the Virgin Mary.He succeeded in becoming rich, but he forgot about his promise.The Virgin Mary, however, appeared to him in his dreams.One day he was stuck in a snowstorm, which calmed just at the moment when he found himself at the top of a hill.He realized that he was at the same place where the Mother of God had appeared to him in his dreams.He then fulfilled his promise and had the Virgin Mary Chapel built on that spot.
The chapel was constructed and consecrated in 1633 on the land of the abbots' Monastery Castle in Olomouc. Then began the permanent closure of the future holy land with the religious community, who had worked there since 1151.The holy area, which consists of the cathedral, chapel cloisters, residential and special-purpose buildings, is a highly valued Baroque piece of work from the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries.
The winter chapel and holy staircase also belong to the church as a reminder of the 28th step in Pilate's Palace in Jerusalem where Christ was standing at the time of his condemnation.
In the year 1995, the holy hill was honored with a visit by Pope John Paul II, who met with youth there.In that year, the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary was declared a minor basilica.