On Ash Wednesday, most Czechs visit churches as tourists—and Prague is embracing it

Today is Ash Wednesday, the day the Christian calendar marks the beginning of Lent with the smudge of ash to the forehead. But at Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral, this evening, visitors may spot more tourists than worshippers.

According to a January STEM/MARK survey, most Czechs (95 percent) attend church primarily for sightseeing rather than religious devotion.

"Even among regular church-goers, worship tends to be a weaker motivation for attendance, just under half," the researchers note.

Czechia is long known as one of Europe’s most secular countries, a fact that contrasts sharply with the wealth of ecclesiastical treasures scattered across its landscape. Pilgrimage tourism to the Czech capital, however, has historically drawn visitors from nations with strong spiritual traditions, such as Poland, Israel, Spain, and Germany.

Prague is taking note, launching a platform aimed at attracting spiritual “slow travelers,” both international and domestic visitors who seek experiences that combine history, culture, and sacred spaces while drawing attention to the fact that one of the world's most aesthetic countries has deeply spiritual roots.

The initiative, Praha duchovní (“Spiritual Prague”), brings together the city’s Christian heritage, Jewish landmarks, mystical sites, and pilgrimage routes in one online space, offering historical context and sightseeing tips.

“Pilgrimage tourism is not exclusively a matter of faith,” says Jana Adamcová, Vice-Chairwoman of Prague City Tourism. “More and more people are seeking personal growth, reflection, and deeper meaning through pilgrimage tourism.”

Prague’s skyline, defined by church spires, offers an immediate sense of the city’s spiritual past: the twin towers of Týn Church over Old Town Square, the Baroque dome of St. Nicholas in Malá Strana, and the Gothic grandeur of St. Vitus anchoring Prague Castle.

"In the Middle Ages, Prague was built as a heavenly Jerusalem, a city of peace and harmony that should stand firm even in the face of chaos," writes the Spiritual Prague site.

Behind this vision stood Emperor Charles IV, one of Czechia’s most significant historical figures, who ensured that churches, monasteries, walls, Charles Bridge, and Charles University formed a well-thought-out whole, merging "architecture, faith, education, and power into a single organism," notes Prague City Tourism.

These buildings were constructed over centuries by a population that was once fervently Catholic, later forcibly re-Catholicized after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, and then systematically secularized under four decades of Communist rule.

The spiritual-tourism strategy also aims to attract the kind of cultural tourist the agency says tend to stay longer and visit lesser-known sites like monastery gardens, quiet pilgrimage routes, and neighborhood parish churches, Adamcová says.

The platform also highlights foreign-language masses for visitors, offering an interesting cross-section of the country's spiritual expats. English services are held at the Church of Our Lady Victorious (home of the Infant Jesus of Prague), with Spanish and Italian also offered there.

St. Thomas hosts masses in Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino; the Church of the Holy Cross offers Italian; St. Giles holds French, Polish, and Latin services; German is available at St. John of Nepomuk on the Rock; and Ukrainian services take place at the Cathedral of St. Clement.

STEM/MARK data underline the secular nature of Czech religious life: only 13 percent attended midnight mass last Christmas, and around a quarter of those were non-believers.

Young Czechs are the least likely to visit churches at all, while those over 60 are the most engaged. Lack of interest is cited as the main barrier to more frequent visits (37 percent), followed by lack of time (28 percent).

But even if church holidays like Ash Wednesday aren't widely observed, the Spiritual Prague project aims to show that Czechs are not indifferent either. The STEM study confirms this fact, reporting that some 66 percent of people attend church for peace, silence, and atmosphere.

"More and more people are seeking personal growth, reflection, and deeper meaning through pilgrimage travel," says Adamcová. Prague offers these in abundance, she says.