The Oak That Bore Human Images

In 1496, the leaders of the miners’ revolt in Kutná Hora were executed at Na zámostí. They were hanged from an oak which, people said, thereafter bore marked acorns in which the likenesses of the executed men could be seen. People made out a neck, a hood and a belt gathering the miners’ white tunics at the waist. The story spread quickly and numerous religious processions came here. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built on the site; an inscription above its door recalls the event. Hermits lived here, tending both church and oak. They were required to deliver twelve fine acorns each year to the royal chamber, which then distributed them to distinguished people and rulers. Some of these acorns survive today, but the oak itself perished by the end of the eighteenth century. A group of now-old oaks grows on the site, perhaps descendants of the famous tree.