painted churches tour

My husband and I found out about the painted churches while eating at Oakridge Smoke House. The waitress was nice and gave us a map to get to the churches. We drove around looking at each church (the drive around was nice.) The churches are beautiful. We would recommend taking time out to visit these gorgeous churches.

The hand-painted interiors of these German and Czech immigrant country churches are simply breathtaking. The piety of these hardworking farmers and ranchers, and their offerings of thanksgiving, is easily seen in the sacrificial nature of their efforts. Blood, sweat, tears, and... beauty.

There are 32 painted churches in Texas, they are all worth your time. We have seem them all, but Schulenburg has the most.A must see if you are in Texas. BUD CARTER

We visited the churches on our own, but I'm sure the tours would provide a lot more info on the history of these churches. Amazing craftsmanship and artistry. Well worth the trip. If you don't have time to see all the churches, at least see the ones in Flatonia and High Hill. Just beautiful.

Three female friends out a fun weekend decided to see the painted churches. On the Saturday we went we did not join a tour, but were glad we did not as we saw a tour with mega cameras that didn't care if they set up in your way, so we were able to visit the churches in a different order so we could miss that tour in further churches. We went in September and had fantastic weather and were often the only ones in the churches. The only draw back to the weekend was that there are not very many good places to eat in the area, so we were glad that we had rented a cottage with a kitchen so we could do our own cooking.

The painted churches look like normal small country churches but inside is beautifully hand painted alters, statues and walls

The Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce sells maps for $4. You can reserve a guide if you call ahead a few weeks. We bought the $4 map and went from there. There a at least a dozen (certainly more) painted churches in Texas, but there are four with in the Schulenberg area. Each is worth a visit and they vary significantly in style and architecture. The drive is lovely too. There's ten to twenty minutes between each church and the countryside is so pretty along the way. Feels like stepping back in time, great way to spend an afternoon.

I would recommend a tour guide so you can find out the history of these beautiful painted churches. It is amazing what these artists could do with paint. They are all active parishes. You can visit without a tour guide but you will miss so much.

We visited 3 churches on the Painted Churches tour, starting in Praha, to High Hill, then Ammannsville. We were rained out at Dubina and late, you have to be there before 3PM. The artistic work in these churces and the altars are out of this world amazing, Praha is gorgeous, High Hill is more so, Ammannsville is more of a plain country church but still inspiring. You don't have to be Catholic to appreciate these churches but, of course, they do ask you to be respectful of the fact you are houses of worship that still celebrate masses, probably weddings and funerals too. You can take all the pictures you want. When we first steppd into Praha and High Hill, my mom said you just "feel" something! They take your breath away! And to think these masterpieces were created by probably "ordinary" people back in the 1800s who just happened to be extraordinary crafts people amazes me even more. A cemetery is attached to each church and these would be another trip on their own, just to see the history represented there. No fees are charged but all the churches seem to be in some sort of restoration and they accept donations. We went on Saturday and were mostly by ourselves. You can do the trip alone but, of course, a tour guide would give you so much history! But go to Google, look up Painted Churches and the old towns associated with each of them, and you get a history lession on your own! I use an old-fashioned GPS (a map) and found the churches easily with Google directions but I believe you can get GPS coordinates. Please put this on your list of to-do's for a great day or weekend trip, I don't think you will be disappointed! Just be sure to take water, drinks and snacks, you might not find a place to eat in the small towns that seem to pretty much shut-down by 5 or 6PM!

We toured 2 of the painted churches with Docent Anthony Hrncir on a Saturday in early July. Schulenberg is close to I 10 and about half way between San Antonio and Houston. The Docent joined us in our car and provided great information and directions to both churches. The churches are gorgeous - and the surrounding countryside is beautiful. I would recommend asking for Tony.

We did not plan ahead so we just stopped by the chamber of commerce office and picked up a self guided tour. My wife and I spent a couple of hours touring the churches. I am sure that we missed a lot by not having a guide but the brochure that we received explained quite a bit.It was an enjoyable tour. It was very surprising to see such beautiful churches in such a rural environment. We have travelled from Houston to San Antonio and Austin quite a few times and I am glad that we finally stopped to see these churches. I think that the brochure cost about $4. and we spent about two hours touring.

My sister and I finally got this checked off our list of things to do. So worth the time and distance. We picked up our tour guide, at the Schulenburg Chamber. She was a sweet little lady and we just clicked with her. Her knowledge and presentation of the information as we went from one church to the other was interesting and not over the top with to much info. She was very patient with me as I went crazy taking pics. Just incredible architecture, the painted ceilings, walls, oak floors, pews, stained glass windows. Check this out on www.texasescapes.com, painted churches. There are 19 in Texas, we only got to see 4, but it makes me want to go see some more.

All of the churches are beautiful.....and well worth the time and effort to view each one...although each church is open to the public and can be viewed by the general public, our favorite church was in Dubina and it had very limited access....without the guide we would have missed a great deal viewing the church from the front door...we also thought the background information provided by the Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce guide was excellent and made a big difference in our experience.

Having done this tour many years ago, wanted to share with hubby and his family. This is a great day trip from Houston, San Antonio, Austin with about a one hour drive. The Schulenburg Chamber of Commerce is so accommodating with providing a personal guide ($10 per person plus $40 minimum tip to the guide) who is most knowledgeable of the history of the area along with that of each church you visit. You can visit the churches free on your own as well and get a map. The churches you visit are fairly spread out and the tour is 4 hours. We began at 10AM with a wonderful guide named Anthony (Tony) born in Schulenburg area. He lived in Houston during most of his working years and then returned there with his love of the rolling hills area. We visited two churches and Tony rode with us in our car so he could talk about places we were passing along the route. In the first two churches, he gave very detailed information about when the church was built and about a settlement that surrounded the church (very lively in the day and now gone in most cases). These churches were built by the Czechs and those standing were built in the 1800's. We had lunch at the Smokehouse (menu or buffet) and the food was delicious and the owner and family were very accommodating. The next two churches brought new detail. The painting on the walls and the ceilings is totally "heavenly" - beautiful aqua colors, depiction of the Garden of Eden in one; the artistry is amazing - a photo cannot do it justice. It is a jaw-dropping experience. These are Catholic churches and we are not Catholic so it was great that Tony helped us to understand the different statues of St. Anthony and other saints in the church to whom you may pray. The altars are very ornate; in the last church we visited, High Hill, the stained glass windows are said to be Tiffany and they are so beautiful. The painting on the walls and ceiling in this church are incredible!!!! The stained glass large window over the altar has a clear window behind it and the sun shines through this rather dark window of Jesus Christ on the cross - the light through that window is amazing. There is a time of the year when many candles around this window and the altar are lit and we could just imagine how moving that would be along with the light through that window. There are 19 churches but it would take more time than we had (outside of the tour.....the Chamber just does this in their area) but one can do this on your own. Fun after the tour, we drove to Shiner and toured the Brewery (short tour but interesting) and free beer....an interesting end to a tour of religious places for sure. A thought and not sure if they do it, but many brides choose "destination weddings" - one of these churches would be amazing. This is a MUST!!!

If you haven't visited the churches, I highly recommend the tour. Some are hard to find even with GPS because the communities are now considered ghost towns and your GPS might not accept the addresses. But there are so many that you can fill a day with the ones that you do find.We've visited the churches 3 times with visitors. Usually see a few tour buses along the way.