The boundary stones in Vodňany were not stolen; it was a misunderstanding by the road workers

Blanice - The disappearance of the commemorative stones near the village of Blanice in the Vodňany region between October 10 and 16 was not a theft. It was a mistake, as road maintenance employees confused the memorial stones with publicity stones, or memorial plaques that commemorate investments from European funds. The workers were supposed to relocate them to another place. As informed police spokesperson Jaromíra Nováková, the commemorative stones will be returned to their original location after consultation with the heritage office in České Budějovice, where the stones are registered as protected cultural monuments.

"Publicity stones are monitored and maintained throughout the entire sustainability period, occasionally with the replacement or addition of missing memorial plaques. After the sustainability period within road maintenance, assigned workers were instructed to remove these publicity stones with memorial plaques in the Strakonice district, although some plaques were already missing. The workers removed them gradually according to a list and a map of their locations,” stated the South Bohemian Road Administration, Strakonice branch.

"Based on information released about the theft on social networks, the worker who accidentally removed these commemorative stones immediately addressed the situation with their supervisor, then with the mayor, and finally with the police,” added Nováková. The commemorative stones are undamaged and currently stored in a facility under camera surveillance, and will be returned at the instruction of the heritage office.

These commemorative stones are a protected cultural monument over 500 years old. They were meant to commemorate the ambush, killing, and robbery of merchants by horse soldiers. The erection of a commemorative cross or stone was part of the judicial settlement of the perpetrator with the surviving relatives, and its significance lay primarily in preserving the memory of the tragic event.