Plánice - Nicov – statue of the Virgin Mary
In the second half of the 16th century, when Ondřej of Šternberk is commemorated on Plánica, this nobleman is said to have decided to build a pyre and place a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary from the Nice church on it and set everything on fire. According to legend, the statuette was found untouched in the ashes. The process was repeated several times, but always with the same result. So Ondřej ordered his servants to chop it up with axes. Even so, he failed to destroy the statue. Ondřej from Šternberk went crazy after this event. Word of the statue's inviolability quickly spread to the surrounding region, and no one dared to harm it.
Allegedly, she was then thrown in the cellar of the Planice castle. The statue was later accidentally discovered by Ondřej's brother Ferdinand from Šternberk, who also developed a great hatred towards her. He also wanted to burn her at the stake, but everything happened again. The statue remained untouched and Ferdinand went mad. According to legend, the third brother Ladislav from Šternberk had the statue of the Virgin Mary transferred to the military camp of the imperial army, where he served in the rank of colonel. The statue was then supposed to help him win over the Turks, but he did not value it too much, because he sold it for a thousand ducats to the Polish nobleman Petar Turovský. After that, the statue came into the possession of Maria, the widow of Emperor Maximilian II. In 1622 it was placed in the newly built Franciscan church in Vienna. In the pilgrimage church of Attersee in Upper Austria, there is a picture on which the fates of the miraculous statue are painted. In the first half of the 18th century, only a copy of the statue was given to the newly built church in Nice.
Source: Ing. Martin Kriz
