Kuks (german: Kukus) is a municipality and village in Trutnov District in the

Hradec Králové Region Hradec Králové Region ( cs, Královéhradecký kraj, ; pl, Kraj hradecki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic located in the north-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Hradec K ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It has about 300 inhabitants. It lies on the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

river. Its main feature is a Baroque spa building with famous

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s by Matthias Braun. The village with the Baroque complex is protected by law as a monument reservation.

Administrative parts

The village of Kašov is an administrative part of Kuks.

Etymology

The name is probably derived from the Old German word for share of mining revenue, according to another theory the word meant ore smelting remains.

Geography

Kuks is located about north of

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

. It lies on the border of three geomorphological regions: the lowlands of East Elbe Table and Orlice Table, and the

Jičín Uplands Jičín (; german: Jitschin or ''Gitschin'') is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. T ...

. It is situated on the

river.

History

Before any settlement was established here, the area was used for

gold panning Gold panning, or simply ''panning'', is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts especia ...

. The Kuks village was founded after the spa was founded here. In 1684, the estate was acquired by Count

Franz Anton von Sporck Franz Anton von Sporck, Count (german: Franz Anton Reichsgraf von Sporck, cs, František Antonín hrabě Špork) (9 March 1662 in Lysá nad Labem or Heřmanův Městec – 30 March 1738 in Lysá nad Labem) was a German-speaking literatus and ...

. On the slope of the

in Kuks, there used to be mineral springs. In 1692–1696, Count Sporck directed three of them at one place and built a simple spa. When the healing effects of the water were proven by professors of the

Charles-Ferdinand University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

and experts from

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

, Sporck enlarged the spa. In 1696, he had built Chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, followed by chateau in front of it in 1710. In 1707–1715, the

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

and the Church of the Holy Trinity with the crypt were built. The interiors and exteriors were decorated with Baroque

s by Matthias Braun, the most famous of which are the ''

Virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is morality, moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is Value (ethics), valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that sh ...

s and

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

s''. Behind the hospital there was a garden, and the whole complex was closed by a cemetery. Sporck died in 1738 and his heirs were not interested in maintaining the spa. A

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

in 1740 destroyed most of the infrastructure and put the spa out of business. Kuks turned into a quiet village with mostly German population. In 1896, the uninhabited chateau burnt down and in 1901, its ruins were demolished. In 1938, it was occupied by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

as one of the

municipalities in Sudetenland The list below gives German names and Czech names of towns along with county names and other information in the Sudetenland from World War I through the era of World War II known as interwar Czechoslovakia. Southern Sudetenland {, class="wi ...

. After the war, the German-speaking population was expelled in 1945 and replaced by

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

settlers.

Sights

The hospital, church, and pharmacy buildings have been preserved, along with historic furnishings, and are considered masterpieces of the Baroque. The complex is nowadays owned by the state. Since 1946, the building of the hospital houses a museum of Baroque art and Czech pharmacy. Braun's exterior sculptures also survive, but have been fast eroding due to the action of water, from rainfall and moisture rising from the ground. For this reason, the Kuks Forest Sculptures were listed in the 2000 World Monuments Watch by the

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

.World Monuments Fund - Kuks Forest Sculptures
/ref> With the financial support of

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...

, pump boxes were installed to drive groundwater away from the sculptures and low-lying vegetation was removed to enhance air circulation in the damp wooded environment.

Notable people

Johann Balzer Johann Balzer (6 August 1738 – 14 December 1799) was an 18th-century Czech engraver in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Life Balzer was born in 1738 at Kuks in Bohemia. He was first instructed in art by Michal Rentz, but subsequently completed his ed ...

(1738–1799), engraver

References

External links

*
Official website of the Kuks HospitalVirtual tour of the Kuks Hospital
{{authority control Villages in Trutnov District Spa towns in the Czech Republic Baroque architecture in the Czech Republic