Svatý Martin (old) is a place that tells the story of a vanished village swallowed by history in the Krušné hory (Ore Mountains). Where the village of Rusová once stood, only the foundations of the old Gothic Church of St. Martin remain today - a witness to events dating back to the 15th century, which survived until the 1970s.

The surrounding area has a distinctly melancholic character - this is the site of a former settlement erased due to the construction of the Přísečnice dam. The landscape is filled with silence and traces of the past, and walking here feels like a journey back in time to a place that existed before administrative decisions turned it into an empty field. In autumn and winter, the atmosphere becomes especially evocative, when mist settles over the former valley.

How to get there

• Kryštofovy Hamry - walking trail, time depends on chosen path, difficulty: easy
• Access is also possible from the former railway embankment, the only element of Rusová that was not demolished

Practical information

• The walls of the old church were excavated, cleared of debris and partially preserved in 2024
• The surviving walls reach a height of 0.2 to 1.8 meters
• The new church, built in 1939, was demolished in 1971, even though the dam's water never actually reached it
• The entire village of Rusová was demolished in 1973

Ironically, it was the Litoměřice bishopric itself that requested the demolition of the new church, intending to reuse its roof timbers for repairs to the church in Perštejn.