BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, December 2, 1820

Archduke Rudolph remains in Troppau, Austrian Silesia, again performing the sacrament of confirmation at the parish church as he has been doing for most of the last week or so, according to the Troppau Zeitung of December 4, quoted in the Wiener Zeitung of December 9 (nr. 281).

Co-cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, photo by Dorcadion.

Seen here is another view of the church of St. Mary. The white portion of the right tower is a Baroque later addition; the left brick tower is unfinished but remains in the Gothic style. Opava was one of the cities most devastated in World War II, and much of the city was destroyed. However, several of the churches and prominent buildings there managed to survive.