A Painted Church in Praha, Texas
The Painted Churches of Fayette County are just a couple of hours west of Houston. We’ve heard about them for years. We had heard they were amazing, but we’ve never detoured off I-10 to find one and peak inside.
We planned to visit more than one this trip.
We stumbled on St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption while we were looking for the town of Flatonia and a place to have lunch. A wrong turn on Highway 90 took us away from our intended destination and toward the town of Praha, where one of the churches is located. Once we turned off the main road and crossed the railroad tracks, we could see the copper steeple off in the distance.
This area was settled by Czechs — Moravian and Bohemian immigrants – who came to Texas to escape poverty in the overcrowded farmlands of Eastern Europe. They began arriving in the mid-1850s. The political climate in their homeland wasn’t the best; an independent Czechoslovakia would not emerge after World War I. Texas offered abundant fertile land and freedom from oppression.
The new settlers named the town, Praha, meaning Prague, in remembrance of their mother country. By 1870, it boasted a population of 700. In 1892, the Gothic stone church was completed.
Swiss artist, Gottfried Flury, an itinerant, who traveled with a minstrel show painting signs, adorned the pale blue walls with wildflowers and angels. He found such a market for his talents, he abandoned the traveling life and settled in nearby Moulton to ply his craft in area churches. Accustom to the grandeur of European churches, these painted ones mimicked the ornate, light-filled churches these settlers left behind.
Today, Praha is a ghost town. No school, no post office, no general store, and more importantly, no cute little tearoom with a great chicken salad recipe, but the church is still well attended. Each August 15 since 1855, the town has hosted the Feast of the Assumption. Known as the ‘Praha Picnic’, it draws 5,000 guests. Since we are major kolache lovers, we plan to practice the polka and attend.
By the way, the locals tell us the best place to have lunch in Flatonia is Red Vault Bistro. The $7.50 lunch buffet is said to be amazing. We spent so much time marveling at the beautiful details of the Praha Painted Church, we arrived too late to join in, but we did take a photo of their interesting décor.
