“We had no idea it was a real place”: US family discovers model of Radhošt' chapel
The Cyril and Methodius Chapel at Radhošť unexpectedly united the Beskydy Society with an American family. The people who take care of the chapel received an email from New York with photographs of a miniature of the chapel and a remarkable story.
In the 1950s, a yard sale in Brooklyn, New York, took place at an old church where they were cleaning out the basement, and a small model of a chapel was found. Paul Keraga, whose father bought the model, says he remembers that his father treasured the artefact and kept it with him until his death. When Paul inherited the miniture, years later, he used AI to try and find out more about it. He eventually discovered that it was a copy of an existing chapel in the Beskydy Mountains and wrote an email to the Beskydy Association.
Josef Krůpa of the Radhošť Matica, the association that takes care of the chapel, spoke to Czech Radio about the discovery:
“My first emotion was one of great surprise, because I did not expect to receive a photo of the Radhošť chapel from New York, from America.”
Further investigation revealed that the model of the chapel, which stands on a special wooden box, was of immense importance to whoever took it to the United States. The carefully preserved box holds a poignant memory of home. Krůpa shows the photo:
“When you lift the lid of the box, there is a text engraved on it, a kind of paraphrase of the national anthem, which ends with the words: My home is under Radhošť. And here you can see that the box contains dirt and stones, probably from Radhošť. I was very surprised that no one has dumped the dirt or stones over the decades.”
People from the Beskidy Association think that the last owner of the wooden copy probably had no relation to Radhošť and the chapel. Josef Krůpa says:
“He simply brought the model home because he liked it. For us, there is an interesting, mysterious story behind it. There is a piece of patriotism and nostalgia hidden in that box.”
Emigrants from the Beskydy Mountains
The fact that memorabilia linked to the Beskydy Mountains travelled so far from home is linked to the history of the region. Josef Krůpa explains:
“There was a large wave of emigrants from the poor region below Radhošť to the United States for economic reasons. A large number of them, for example, settled in Texas. And when they were better off there, they helped finance the construction of the chapel at Radhošť. In the museum in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, for example, an entire section of the exhibition is dedicated to those who were displaced to the United States, especially to Texas.”
Neither the people from the Radhošt' Matica nor the Museum in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm have been able to contact the author of the email, Paul Keraga, yet. They hope that they may be able to do so in the near future.
