On the site of the church in Ústecko, there could be a reminder of Kryl's Angel

Karel Kryl

Ústí nad Labem – The inspiration for the song Anděl was most likely the devastated church in Velký Chvojno near Ústí nad Labem, said Kryl expert Pavel Hošek during today’s lecture at the Ústí museum. St. Martin's Church was demolished in 1977, and there is now a playground for a kindergarten on its site. In the future, there could be a reminder of Kryl's most famous song here, said mayor Markéta Vaňáčová to ČTK.

St. James' Church in Chvojno

Kryl’s artistic beginnings are connected to the North Bohemian region; he was relocated to Teplice after graduating from high school. "He later remembers the years in the Ústí region as the most beautiful," Hošek stated. Kryl, as a person from a Moravian Catholic family, was aware of the many damaged churches and chapels in northern Bohemia. "He went to those places with his friend Bedřich Taussig and thus found himself in Velký Chvojno," Hošek noted. As the songwriter described, he found a torso of an angel on the ground there.

There is also a photograph of the church, on which Kryl wrote "from the demolished church," reminded Kryl's first wife Eva Sedlářová, who attended today's lecture, on Facebook. "I remember him as Karel, as a man about whom I knew nothing when we met. He picked up a guitar and played," she told ČTK.

The song Anděl was released in 1969 on the debut album Bratříčku, zavírej vrátka. According to Sedlářová, however, the first recording was made at the radio station in Ústí nad Labem. "Unfortunately, it was said to have been lost during normalization," she added.

The song is, according to Hošek, clearly inspired by the unique atmosphere of this region. "He saw the beauty and cultural wealth that is simultaneously being damaged, whether due to mining, vandalism, or other reasons," Hošek noted. "An inner experience of pain, but at the same time fascination, is reflected in such famous songs by Karel Kryl as Anděl, Pieta, Salome," Hošek said.

St. Martin's Church in Velký Chvojno was, according to the website zanikleobce, built according to the plans of architect Petr Versy from Litoměřice on the site of the original medieval structure. It was a parish church since 1832. The church housed a rare bell from 1408 with a Czech inscription. Before the church's demolition in 1977, the bell was moved to St. Peter and Paul Church in Tanvald in the Jablonec area.

On part of the land in Velký Chvojno where the church stood, there is a playground. Another part was acquired by the municipality. "I would very much like there to be a reminder of Karel Kryl here, perhaps in the form of an angel statue. We have witnesses who still remember Karel Kryl's visits to us," the mayor stated.