Town of Rumburk lies in Šluknov tip, in the northernmost part of the Czech Republic on the border with the Federal Republic of Germany (387 metres above sea level, 11,000 inhabitants). To the north of the town there is a hilly country Šluknovská pahorkatina situated. The direction to the south offers an impressive panorama of the Lužické Mountains with the highest mountain Luž (793 metres).
Rumburk is being mentioned already in 1298 when it was a market town on the former salt track. Over the years it became a famous textile centre and at the end of the 19th century it was already one of the important towns in Šluknov tip. The Loretto Chapel from the beginning of the 18th century is the most famous historical building in town which is at the same time the northernmost building of this kind in Europe.
A revolt in Rumburk in May 1918, when Czech soldiers in a local Austro-Hungarian garrison refused obedience to their commanders, sorrowfully entered a town history. The revolt was brutally suppressed; ten young soldiers were executed and many others were sent to the front or put to prison. A monument in a town park reminds us of this tragic event of the last year of the 1st World War.
The congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) was founded in Rumburk on the 18th of April 1948. New members of the congregation got former St. John Ne-pomuk’s Chapel after the German Evangelical Church and an original school serves as a rectory now.
Fate of this late Baroque chapel is notable: it comes from 1775–1778 but soon after it did not serve worship purposes anymore. It was used as a granary, later also together with the adjacent house it served even as a roadside inn. In 1861 the German Protestants got it as a gift. At that time a Protestant cemetery was also founded here. It is not clear until now whether it was an intention or an accident: on the 2nd of August 2003 the church burned down.
A grand restoration of the church and the adjacent building soon began thanks to devoted help from numerous contributors. These days the common work is almost completed. The organ was also repaired. The interior of the church was sensitively rearraged according to designer Barbora Veselá’s plan and a restored building near the church serves various congregation activities.
A preaching station in Česká Kamenice also belongs to the congregation in Rumburk. Česká Kamenice is a small town with many interesting historical buildings and with an attractive surrounding. Members of the preaching station gather in the congregation house. The small church which the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) obtained after the 2nd World War serves as a funeral hall.