The settlement of Mariánská lies in the Ore Mountains north of Jáchymov and belongs to places with an exceptionally layered history, combining medieval colonisation, mining activity, Baroque pilgrimage tradition, and the tragic events connected with the uranium camps after 1948. Originally a small mountain settlement founded during the colonising activities of the Teplá Monastery, it later became closely linked with the development of Jáchymov and its mining industry. The site reached its greatest importance in the Baroque period as the pilgrimage place of Maria Sorg, with a Capuchin monastery and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Today Mariánská forms part of the town of Jáchymov and recalls both its celebrated pilgrimage past and the darker chapters of the twentieth century.

The settlement originated as part of Werlsgrün during the civilising and colonising activity of the Teplá Monastery in the thirteenth century. As late as 1386 it still belonged to the monastery, but by 1434 it is recorded as property of the Ostrov branch of the Schlik family. In 1561 the town council of Jáchymov decided that the inhabitants of Werlsgrün and Sorg were subject to its jurisdiction, and both settlements thus became part of the Jáchymov domain. Disputes between Jáchymov and the original lords from Ostrov nevertheless continued for roughly two more centuries, mainly over the use of pastures and water for grazing cattle. Livestock breeding was the principal means of subsistence in this harsh mountain region, where the climate made ordinary agriculture difficult.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the settlement of Nový Sorg arose here, reportedly on the site of a hermitage inhabited by Johannes Niavius, known as Schneevogel. According to tradition, he foretold the future glory of a new town nearby, its decline, and a later revival. Mathesius in his work Sarepta mentions the hermitage near the Black adit below Wolfsberg, which points to mining activity even before the foundation of Jáchymov. Early mining is also suggested by references to spoil heaps at Zimmerhöhe and Schmitzberg and by the fact that as late as 1923 local inhabitants were obliged to draw water from old adits.

When the Schlik family founded Jáchymov in the early sixteenth century and developed silver mining, Niavius’s prophecy is said to have attracted the first prospectors. After mining later declined, miners recalled the second part of the prophecy and in 1691 built a wooden chapel on the site of the hermitage above the Reibach stream, with approval from the Prague bishopric. Already in 1692–1693 it was replaced by a stone building. A donated miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by stories of answered prayers, was placed in the chapel, and the settlement came to be known as Maria Sorg. On 8 August 1699 the newly built Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was consecrated by the mining brotherhood and soon became a popular pilgrimage destination.

In 1700 the hermit Eusebius Kolitsch, a member of the Third Order of St Jerome from Hřebečná, settled by the church and took care of the shrine. In 1728 he was attacked by robbers searching for valuables and burned in the hermitage; his remains were buried in the church crypt. Around this time mining activity in the Jáchymov region revived, now focusing mainly on arsenic, cobalt, and tin.

As the number of pilgrims grew, the Jáchymov town council had an inn built on the site, but it soon proved insufficient. Therefore, in 1751 Capuchin friars were invited to Maria Sorg, and an imperial decree allowed them to hold services from January 1754. The Capuchins gradually built a hospice for pilgrims as well as their own monastery complex and devoted themselves to pastoral care, education, and charitable work in the wider region. As a mendicant order, they were materially supported by the town of Jáchymov through supplies of grain, building and firewood, and beer, while also living from donations of the faithful. The hospice was completed in 1765, and at the same time an order church dedicated to St Francis was built, furnished largely from pilgrims’ gifts. In 1781 a small turret was added to the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary through the efforts of the Jáchymov burgher Tadeáš Schmidt. The Capuchins also established a small school where they taught local children free of charge.

Records of alleged miraculous healings connected with the pilgrimage site were collected by the Capuchin Father František Serafín and printed in Jáchymov in 1902, with a note that they had not been officially examined by the Church and were acknowledged only within the limits permitted by the bulls of Pope Urban VIII. The Capuchins remained active in Mariánská until 1946, by which time the settlement’s name had already been Czechised to Mariánská.

After the Second World War, the site was affected by dramatic developments connected with uranium mining in the Jáchymov region. In 1948 the last two Capuchins were arrested and the monastery was closed. The miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary was saved and is now kept in the Church of St Joachim in Jáchymov, and the organ from the Church of St Francis was transferred to the Capuchin church in Sokolov. In June 1949 a labour camp for political prisoners was established near the monastery, one of the camps of the Jáchymov camp system. About 700 prisoners were held in wooden barracks, and the monastery buildings themselves were used for repressive purposes. The former hospice became barracks for the Jeřáb unit of the National Security Corps guarding the mining area, while interrogation and punishment cells were set up in the cellars of the Church of the Assumption for prisoners, including those captured after escape attempts. The Church of St Francis served as a warehouse and shooting range.

On the slope above the monastery, the Uranium Mines of Jáchymov built a new housing estate in 1948 for civilian miners working in the nearby Eva, Adam, and Eduard mines. The estate consisted of about fifty wooden semi-detached houses, a school, a kindergarten, and a cultural centre. After mining ended in 1962, these buildings were gradually converted into recreational facilities. The monastery buildings themselves were used as storage after the camp was closed on 1 April 1960, and due to their poor condition the entire complex was demolished by explosion on 31 May 1965.

The wooden buildings of the former camp were converted in 1962 into an institution for mentally disabled girls, run by teaching sisters until 1981. The social care facility continues to operate here today, now as a modern civilian institution. From the original monastery complex only a fragment of the monastery wall by the road and the former Capuchin school building have survived. Pilgrimages to Mariánská continued until the end of the nineteenth century, recalling the site’s earlier importance as one of the pilgrimage centres of the Jáchymov region.

The history of the locality also includes the old Imperial Road, which began in Jáchymov at today’s náměstí Republiky, led through the Popov Valley over Popovský Hill to Popov (Pfaffengrün), and from there across the ridge above Mariánská towards Hroznětín and Ostrov. Today, this route has disappeared in the Popov Valley area due to the extensive spoil heaps of the Svornost and Josef mines, which buried the valley and parts of the original development.

Local tradition also tells of a linden avenue that once stood near the hospice. According to legend, it grew from a linden staff that a young man from Jáchymov, accused of murder, stuck into the ground there. Following the advice of the hermit Niavius, he submitted to God’s judgement, and when the staff sprouted, his innocence was proven. The avenue was later felled during the construction of the monastery buildings, but the legend has remained part of local memory.