The sanctuary and what is inside it

You often ask us about the equipment of the sanctuary for darkness therapy and its fittings. And about its surroundings, too. So here you will find everything we could think of, described in detail.

Where the dark retreat sanctuary stands

The sanctuary stands on a one-hectare plot in the middle of an orchard in a hamlet of 30 inhabitants, with our timber cottage 50 metres away. The nearest road is 200 metres off, and beyond the sanctuary there is nothing but a vegetable garden, fields and woods.

How it is built

The sanctuary is built of wood and rests on ground screws, so the structure sits about 10 cm above the ground. The floor is solid spruce floorboards insulated with 20 cm of polystyrene. The outside of the walls is clad in boards forming a ventilated facade, behind which is a frame holding 20 cm of thermal insulation. Inside, the walls are lined with OSB boards (wood shavings bonded with resin – no artificial glue). The ceiling has 30 cm of thermal insulation that is not bonded with formaldehyde. The building is what is called diffusion-open: the wood itself balances the relative humidity between 45 and 60 per cent – in other words, it breathes.

Can you manage everything in the cabin in the dark?

We describe the insulation and equipment in our own words above. Here are four Google reviews from people who have tried it – including the reservations they had.

It was freezing outside in winter, but the cabin is very well insulated, and thanks to the underfloor heating and the ventilation system it is nice and warm in there – you can easily be in pyjamas, underwear or nothing at all. It is sound-insulated too; very few disturbing noises got through. Even though a gale raged outside for three days, inside it was just a faint hum.
Jiří Matějček, January 2026

The stay was well organised, the cabin new and fitted out so that everything could be managed in the dark.
Barbora Vaculíková Bardová, September 2024

During the day you can hear certain outdoor sounds (indoors only the boiler twice a day), but that didn’t bother me.
Petr Novák, December 2024

The MP3 player gives off light even though it is taped over; maybe it says so somewhere, but somehow I missed it 😀
Michal Döme, September 2024

Inside the darkness therapy sanctuary

Ventilation – although this is a diffusion-open building, we have fitted a ventilation unit with heat recovery. The unit recovers 70% of the heat, saving energy on heating and sparing the environment. There are two ventilation speeds. The first raises the noise level to 30 dB and changes the air in the sanctuary twice an hour. The second raises it to 35 dB and changes the air three times an hour. There is a selector switch and an off switch by the entrance.

A bathroom basin with a view of the garden

Sleeping – the sanctuary has a wooden bed, 2.1 metres long and 80 cm wide. The slatted base is made of wooden slats, with a foam mattress on top. Everyone gets clean bed linen from us. A pillow and a duvet go without saying (not down, though – microfibre).

Warmth and comfort – the thermal insulation saves a great deal of heat; the sanctuary’s heat loss is close to that of a passive house. Heating and cooling are handled by a heat pump, which heats in winter and cools in summer like air conditioning. The air-conditioning controls have been carefully adapted for a stay in the dark. The outdoor unit runs at 46 dB (a hushed conversation), the indoor unit at 22 dB (rustling leaves). In case of a hard winter, there is also a 0.5 kW electric heater with a thermostat (carefully chosen so it does not spark when it switches on).

Personal hygiene – a hydro-massage shower cubicle with hot water, a deep tray and a seat. A basin with a plug. A wall-hung toilet. Hot water comes from a 30-litre boiler mounted above the toilet. The boiler heats a full tank in an hour and a half, and a full tank is enough for a 5–15 minute shower.

Water – well water with a yield of 21 cubic metres a day is delivered by a Grundfos vibration pump. Naturally, the water is chlorine-free, and for drinking it is best if you let it run for a minute or two so the water from the spring reaches you … delicious. The pressure in the pipes is evened out by an expansion vessel, but it can vary between 3 and 6 bar. Waste water goes to a domestic treatment plant and then on to our vegetable garden.

The timber cottage with the vegetable garden

Quiet – the sanctuary was not built with sound deprivation in mind; although 20 cm of insulation and 6 cm wooden walls muffle a great deal, the occasional outdoor sound can be heard inside. If you are after absolute silence for your dark retreat, we have earplugs from the pharmacy for you, or for the hard core, big ear defenders. Likewise, you may occasionally hear our two dogs bark or the cockerel crow 🙂 We should also add that 12 km away, in Čáslav, there is a military airfield that is home to a squadron of supersonic Gripen fighters, which can be heard from time to time. With the ventilation switched off, the silence in the sanctuary is around 24 dB at night and around 28 dB during the day (the level of a rustling forest).

Storage – there are hooks for hanging up your things. We have no wardrobes; most people come with just a small rucksack of essentials anyway. You can keep your personal belongings on the shelf by the bed or under the bed. In the hallway there is a shelf for food and a flask of tea.

The empty cabin room with a sleeping mat

A sleeping mat and a meditation cushion are provided.

We water the vegetable garden with the treated waste water.

The garden with flower beds and a seating area in the orchard

What you are better off not bringing to a dark retreat:

1) chemical shower gels and shampoos
2) steroids, hormonal contraception
3) chemical perfumes, antiperspirants and other chemical poisons

Thank you for understanding.

Not sure which cabin is the right one for your dark retreat?
There are five cabins to choose from: Friendship, Peace, Health, Freedom and Love.

Explore the other cabins