Monuments
Benedictine monastery and monastery church of St. Vojtěch
Benedictine Abbey of St. Václava is an impressive complex located in Broumov - in a basin bordered by the Broumov Walls and the Javorí Mountains near the border with Poland. The monastery was founded in the 13th century by monks of the Order of St. Benedict, which is the oldest monastic order in Western Christianity. In the 17th century, the monastery was rebuilt in its present Baroque form by the Italian master builder Martin Allio from Lowenthal and the architects Kryštof Dientzenhofer and his son Kilián Ignác. The latter is also the author of the designs for the interior decoration of the monastery, realized by outstanding artists of the Prague Baroque - stucco artist Bernard Spinetti, fresco painter Jan Karl Kovář and painter Felix A. Scheffler. The interiors of the abbey and the convent were decorated, among other things, with paintings by Peter Brandl. The altarpieces in the side chapels of the church were painted by V.V.Reiner.
The monastery can be visited as part of a guided tour at any time of the year or during one of the numerous cultural events.
Opening hours, entrance fees, attractions, photos, overview of cultural events: www.klasterbroumov.cz
Broumovsky Monastery through the viewfinder Roaming cameras of Czech Television.
Cemetery Church of the Virgin Mary in Broumov
A unique preserved monument of folk wooden architecture, which is the dominant feature of the Broumov cemetery.
The cemetery church is one of the oldest wooden sacral buildings in Central Europe and is notable for its architecture and interior painting. We know nothing about what the church originally looked like, except perhaps that it was built of wood. It was burned during the siege of the city by the Hussite military cash in June 1421, and the current form of the church probably dates from 1450. In its time, a fairy tale about the founding of the church in 1177 by a pagan princess was also popular.
Exceptional construction without a single nail!
Ratibořice Castle and Babiččino údolí
Grandma's valley belongs to the most famous excursion places in Eastern Bohemia. The entire landscape of Babiččina údolí and Ratibořice Castle is ideal for a peaceful holiday in summer and winter. In the summer, a picturesque landscape awaits you with undulating Krkonoše terrain, which is excellent for hiking and cycling . In winter, cross-country skiing, Krkonoše ski lifts or nearby Krkonoše mountains await you. Here you will discover well-known places from Božena Němcová's book "Grandma", such as Ratibořický castle, mill or Staré Bělidlo. A variety of cultural events are often held here, which refer to Grandma's legacy. And so here you will see animated characters from the novel - the Baroness, the miller, Grandma or even the famous four-legged friends played by Sultan and Tyrlo. Come for a week or a weekend.
We recommend a stay in Babiččina údolí for lovers of nature, hiking, cycling, parents with children and active seniors. Book early accommodation in Babiččina údolí and get to know the beauty of this region.
Hospital Kuks
As early as 1696, Count Špork decided to establish a home for aged veterans from the area on his estate in Hradiště. After Špork's spa with a residence began to grow on the left bank of the Elbe in Kuks, the opposite, right bank was chosen as the site for the future institute.
The hospital functioned until 1938, when due to the Munich agreement, the brothers of mercy and their inmates had to leave the hospital building. The house began to serve partly as a warehouse for Aryanized property, the school of economics from Liberec was moved here and a local history museum was operated. Since 1942, the county reformatory for juvenile delinquents has operated here. At the very end of the war, German women and children fleeing the advancing Red Army found shelter in the house.
After the Second World War, the hospital building was taken over by ONV in Jaroměř. In one wing, until 2001, research was carried out in the branch of the regional archive of the East Bohemian Region. In the second wing, until the end of the 1960s, one of the hospitals for long-term patients operated. The central part around the church was taken over by the National Cultural Commission after 1946.
At the end of the 1950s, the slow and lengthy journey to save the Baroque complex begins. Her most significant achievement was clearly the transfer of the original statues of Virtues and Vices to the premises of the former hospital, today's lapidary, in 1984.
Dreams about the reconstruction of the hospital came true in 2010, when the Kuks - Pomegranate project started, which turned the building into a modern monument hiding a regional educational center, of course with a sensitive approach to the care of national cultural heritage. The renovated hospital reopened to the public after a one-year break in March 2015.
You can read more about the campus renewal project here: Official website
Mlýn Dřevíček will reveal to you the secrets of the miller's craft
Visit the mill museum with a waterman, a bear and devils
How does grain become flour? What did the machines our ancestors used to make flour do? And where do the local mill devils have their lair? You will learn all this when you visit the Dřevíček mill.
Here, children and adults alike can see how rye and wheat were ground into flour in the first half of the 20th century. The mill houses a complete mill facility that was fully operational before 1940. Visitors to the mill will thus get to know the process of grain milling, from receiving grain from farmers to issuing flour. He will learn what pocket elevators, grinding stools, peeler, reformer and other technology are used for. And then, with the help of water power, the mill starts: all the shafts, pulleys spin and, thanks to the strong leather belts, everything in the mill moves.
Technology lovers will get their money's worth, as they can admire how seemingly simple machines turn grain into flour. The children are most amazed by the "dancing machine". The braver and more active ones can hold wheat semolina in their hands while cleaning it, or even represent the miller when emptying sacks of flour into wooden containers.
If there is a little time left and the visitors are interested, they will also learn that, in addition to the regular landlords, there was also a "shajdír" in the mills. And did you know that there used to be a "hassečert" in the mills? If you don't know what it was, go on a tour of the Drěvíček mill and see under the hood of old crafts and mill secrets.
Opening hours, admission price and other information can be found HERE.
Church of St. Jiří and Martina, Martínkovice
Church of St. Jiří and Martina are standing on a hill above the river Stěnavá in the middle of the cemetery. Previously, a wooden church stood in its place, which is first mentioned in the sources in 1384, and in the middle of the 17th century, an early Baroque tower was added to it. This was preserved even after the Baroque reconstruction of the church in 1692–98. As the only one of the entire Broumov group, the Martinkovice church is the work of the builder Martin Allio, who had previously, at the request of Abbot Sartori, carried out the Baroque reconstruction of the Broumov Monastery Church of St. Vojtěch.
Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Božanov
The original church in Božanov is mentioned in the oldest sources as early as the 14th century and was dedicated to St. Bartholomew. With the construction of the new church of St. Mary Magdalene was started in 1709, probably according to the design of Kryštof Dientzenhofer. How far the construction of the church was carried and when it was interrupted, it is impossible to find out, because the construction accounts from the following years have not been preserved. Construction of the east tower and presbytery is believed to have begun, with the old church continuing to be used until 1735.
Church of St. Markéty, Šonov
As early as the 14th century, the wooden church of St. John the Evangelist, on whose place the Neo-Gothic chapel of the Virgin Mary was later built. Today's church of St. Markéty stands alone on a hill west of Šonov. Its construction was started in 1726 and completed probably four years later. Here, too, the authorship is attributed to Kilian Ignac Dientzenhofer. kostel-sv-markety-sonov The church is interestingly oriented with a gabled wall with towers towards the Broumov monastery, which we can see from here. The basis of the church's floor plan is an elongated octagon, the six shorter sides forming the two ends are lined with other spaces. At the entrance front a pair of prismatic towers with a wide arched entrance block between them and at the end two sacristy with a chancel in the middle. The building has a total of six entrances, of which three lead to the vestibule of the church and three to the nave. Originally, the church had a total of four bells, but most were requisitioned during the First World War. In 1927, three new bells were purchased, which were made by Octava Winter's bell-making workshop in Broumov. However, all but one of them were confiscated during the Second World War, and the bell that remained was later transferred to the tower of the monastery church in Broumov. The interior of the Šonov church was extensively damaged and looted. Nevertheless, services are being held here again.
Monastery in Police nad Metují
The Břevnov monastery tradition says that at the beginning of the 13th century Abbot Kuno sent the Rajhrad monk Juryk (or Jurik) to the area of today's Police nad Metují, who built a hermitage there. According to the monastery's obituary, Juryk died in 1209, deacon Vitalis of Břevnov took his place and, together with several brothers, built a wooden chapel of the Virgin Mary near the hermitage in 1213. In the same year, Abbot Kuno begged King Přemysl Otakar I to donate this territory. In 1296, Pope Boniface VIII also confirmed the existence of the Provost's office. The abbots of Břevnov soon began to strive to add the more advantageously located Broumovská basin to the territory of Policka.
Apparently, the monastery church of the Virgin Mary was built during the reign of Abbot Martin I. It also includes an excellent early Gothic portal. At the end of the 13th century, Abbot Bavor of Nečtiny paid a lot of attention to the Poličky monastery, who had several manuscripts (e.g. the Lives of the Fathers) and other works of art purchased for it - among them a large painting painted on wood or carpets. He also began the construction of stone buildings, where he established a dormitory and a refectory; a third part of the cloister with living quarters for the provost was also built. The construction of the church was also completed.
The importance of the Police monastery gradually declines after the establishment of the monastery in Broumov. But their destinies were intertwined. During the battles for the Bohemian throne in the second half of the 15th century, both monasteries, Broumov and Police, were occupied in 1469 by the troops of Hetman František z Háje, who fought on the side of Matyáš Corvín. Later, the monastery in Broumov, together with the Polish provostship, was pledged by King Vladislav Jagiellonian to Jindřich Münsterberský, the son of Jiří z Poděbrady. In 1499, a privilege was obtained from King Vladislav, according to which the estates of neither the Broumov nor the Poličky monastery should no longer be mortgaged.
In 1602, after his forced resignation, abbot Martin II took refuge with the monastery treasury in the Police monastery. "Kórytko", who also died here.
Folk architecture in the Broumovsk region
From the middle of the 13th century, colonists came to Teplice and the Broumovská basin, mainly from Thuringia, who brought here a specific type of farm estate known as the "Frankish manor farm". Villages throughout the Broumovska region are colonization-type and built-up, rising up along streams at the foot of hills and forests.
The architectural specificity is represented by a classicist manor house in the Broumovsk region. The rural classicist house was created under the influence of the classicist construction and reconstruction of the city of Broumov. It was established in the countryside since the 1920s, especially in the years 1850 - 1870.
The decoration of the facades here does not differentiate between residential and commercial buildings. The details are created in stucco and complement the basic division of the facades determined by moldings, cornices, blind arcades and pilasters. Part of the gables oriented towards communication are commemorative plaques of the foundation of the estate, stone reliefs of saints and niche statues of popular saints. Classicist pilasters in the shield are usually topped with capitals.
Entrance portals located in arched niches are characteristic. On the sides are niches with seats, carved from sandstone. The arches of the entrance portals are mostly dated and marked with the owner's monogram and a descriptive number. A characteristic feature of the buildings is the dog house, lined with sandstone slabs with a relief decoration of a house. Plasters of buildings are colored, most often two-colored - yellow and white. The stylish classical entrance doors to houses are also colorful. Barns and stables were part of the residential building. Granaries and barns formed the enclosure of the yard, often supplemented by an exchange, which sometimes also included a granary. Cellars were sometimes outside the house, but more often part of the house.
Entrance gates to estates are sometimes through interchanges, sometimes separate. They are rarely decorated with rich sculptural decoration.