6. 7. 2010 Church issued a rare coin

The Swabian Hall was discovered by archaeologists at the ruins of the Church of St. Linhart in the forests of Karlovy Vary. It is one of the rare coins found there. On one side is a hand, on the other the Maltese Cross.

An archaeological team led by Jiří Klsák has focused on the site. They searched the entrance to the church bit by bit. Among the rarest finds is the aforementioned Swabian Hall, which was minted around 1300.

Subsequently, they discovered a second silver coin of similar age. It was immediately registered and photographed. Klsák collaborated on the research with the archaeologist of the Karlovy Vary Museum Jan Tajer and František Vlach.

Other finds include metal nails from the roof of the mythical building. Earlier, archaeologists discovered remains in the area that belong to the original inhabitants of the medieval settlement of Thiergarten or Obora. The earliest mention of Obora dates back to 1325 and the first records of the church date back to 1246.

"The first discovery was the grave of a man and two children under the floor. Another body, from the Thirty Years' War, was found under the altar. A woman was lying there in a crouched position, apparently tied up," said Klsák, who worked at the church with a team back in 1989 when it was covered in rubble.

It was underneath it that archaeologists discovered the skeleton of a young woman lying on her side in a crouched position. The position of her limbs suggested that her hands and feet were bound at the time of burial.

St. Linhart's Church is originally a fortified late Romanesque church, probably dating from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. It is located on a small rocky hill above the now completely vanished medieval village of Obora. The disappearance of the church is related to the founding of Karlovy Vary, the gradual depopulation of the village and the loss of importance of the whole place at the end of the fifteenth century. The church was then left to its fate and gradually decayed.

Archaeologists are constantly returning to the church. "We are planning to carry out geophysics at the site of the settlement of Obora, around the church of St Linhart. In 2019, we discovered in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute Loket probably the site of the original medieval village," Klsák revealed.

Sources: www.idnes.cz, www.karlovyvary.cz, www.rozhlas.cz