Hundreds of Christian churches and religious sites across central Europe will open their doors on Friday for the Night of Churches, an annual ecumenical initiative that draws nearly one million visitors in the Czech Republic and Austria combined. Source: EWTN News.
The event, now in its 18th year in the Czech Republic, invites believers and nonbelievers alike to explore churches, chapels, and synagogues through concerts, exhibitions, talks, guided tours, and prayer – often until late at night.
Some participating sites grant access to towers, crypts and spaces that are otherwise closed to the public.
This yearʼs theme in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia is “Courage”.
Last year, more than 460,000 visitors and 25,000 volunteers took part across the Czech Republic, an increase of 40,000 visitors and 5,000 volunteers compared with the year before.
In Austria, organisers counted around 300,000 visitors in each of the last two years. In Slovakia, where precise figures were not available for 2025, several cities reported record attendance, according to the press agency of the Slovak Bishops’ Conference.
Prague Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl acknowledged that “sometimes it takes courage to even cross the threshold of a church”. The prelate invited people to enter and “get to know each other”, noting that “churches and chapels were created as spaces for people to meet each other and with God”.
The concept of opening churches at night originated in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1995. It spread to Austria in 2005 and to the Czech Republic in 2009 and has since expanded to Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, South Tyrol in Italy, and Switzerland.
FULL STORY
Hundreds of churches open doors to all as Europe marks ‘night of churches’ (By Bohumil Petrík, EWTN News)
