Pustyňa, Chapel in Starý Bohumín, Bohumín, Czech Republic

Pustyňa is the name given to the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Starý Bohumín, a small chapel near the Czech-Polish border on the right bank of the Odra. Only its perimeter walls remain after bombing at the end of World War II. It was listed as a cultural monument in 1958.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross probably dates from 1733. In 1756 Antonín Josef Czimmerer and Felix Antonín Broský joined the Third Order of St. Francis and received permission to build a hermitage beside it. The order was dissolved in 1782, the hermitage abolished, and the chapel was listed as a cultural monument in 1958.

The name Pustyňa comes from the hermitage founded in 1756 by Antonín Josef Czimmerer and Felix Antonín Broský, lay members of the Third Order of St. Francis. The hermitage was dissolved in 1782, and the neighbouring Chapel of the Holy Cross, probably from 1733, was long mistaken for it; processions came here annually out of respect for the hermits.

A footpath leads to Pustyňa from the Starý Bohumín cemetery, lined with lime trees and a cherry avenue. A paved fire pit with benches stands beside the site. The Hraniční meandry Odry educational trail and other marked routes start here, and the Bohumín–Chałupki border crossing is nearby.

The two lay Franciscans, Antonín Josef Czimmerer and Felix Antonín Broský, received permission on 29 July 1756 to build the hermitage next to the existing Chapel of the Holy Cross, probably from 1733, paying for it from their remaining property. The hermitage was dissolved in 1782 by imperial decree, and the neighbouring chapel, kept up out of respect for the hermits, took over the name Pustyňa.