Vojtěch Kopic (1909 – 1978)
Vojtěch Kopic, worked in agriculture from his youth, and there was no thought of schooling in his poor circumstances, even though he had an inclination for artistic activity. We know that he was born on April 1, 1909 in Vadín near Havlíčkův Brod, was orphaned at the age of eight and then lived with his aunt in Turnov. While working at the mill in Rovensko pod Troskami, he met Věra Holubová from Vrchů, the daughter of a peculiar farmer from solitude, and in 1932, when he was 23 years old, Kopic married Věra and lived with her on the farm until his death in 1978. He learned to read music and got a harmonium for his cottage , and as a self-taught musician, he tried with his own diligence and will to fulfill his desire to master this instrument so that he could play during church services. He did so, and he regularly went to play in the chapel of Wallenstein Castle and on Hruba Skála. He was interested in national history all his life. He got into fine arts during World War II, when he helped with the restoration of the cottage, he was taught to carve stone by a stonemason from the neighborhood, Blebta. From the 1940s until his death, he carved sculptures into the sandstone rocks in the immediate vicinity of his cottage, depicting themes from our history (St. Wenceslas, Jánošík, Princess Libuše, etc.) and the surrounding nature. Towards the end of the war, he saved the lives of four prisoners from death marches, whom he hid in a rock cave in a forest ravine near the cottage, and the whole family took care of them. Life on the estate was beautiful for the Kopic family, but also very difficult. Water had to be transported and carried from the valley, and electricity was not installed until 1962. Therefore, Kopic set himself the task of digging his own well in the difficult bedrock. It was an extremely strenuous job, because the water only appeared at a depth of 35 m. The technical and economic possibilities when Kopic dug the well actually required digging two wells next to each other, with the water from the deeper well first being pumped into the second (half the depth) and then from there to the surface. The work of digging the well was also very dangerous, and he could easily have lost his life. Kopic was raised in faith in God and was convinced that his participation in the church service at Hrubá Skála during Hromnice had saved his life. At the time of the service, part of the well excavation had just collapsed. It is likely that he would have barely survived the collapse if he had been working in the well at that time. Kopic left his extensive rock gallery forever on December 25, 1978, and his wife followed him seven years later. The cottage is now looked after by his two daughters and their families.
