Trutnov (; german: Trautenau) is a town 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 29,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.

Administrative parts

Trutnov is made up of town parts of Dolní Předměstí, Dolní Staré Město, Horní Předměstí, Horní Staré Město, Kryblice, Střední Předměstí and Vnitřní Město, and villages of Adamov, Babí, Bohuslavice, Bojiště, Lhota, Libeč, Nový Rokytník, Oblanov, Poříčí, Starý Rokytník, Střítež, Studenec, Volanov and Voletiny.

Etymology

Both the German name ''Trautenau'' and the Czech name ''Trutnov'' are derived from the Old German ''truten ouwe'', which meant "cute

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

Geography

Trutnov 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 ...

. A negligible part of the municipal territory borders on

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Most of the territory lies in the Giant Mountains Foothills, but it also extends to the Broumov Highlands on the east, and a small northern part extends into the Giant Mountains. The highest point is a

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional gr ...

on the slopes of the Dvorský les Mountain, at above sea level. The town proper is situated in the valley of the Úpa River.

History

The first written mention of Trutnov is from 1260. It was founded around 1250 by the Švábenský of Švábenice noble family and originally named Úpa after the eponymous river. In 1301, King Wenceslaus II bought the whole area, already called Trutnov. From 1400 to 1599, Trutnov was a

dowry town Dowry town ( cs, věnné město) was a town that had been devoted by a Bohemian king to his wife – the queen consort. This was sometimes indicated by the name of the town, as in the case of Hradec Králové (''Castle of the Queen''), Dvůr Krá ...

of the Bohemian queens. In 1421, the town was captured by

Jan Žižka Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha ( en, John Zizka of Trocnov and the Chalice; 1360 – 11 October 1424) was a Czech general – a contemporary and follower of Jan Hus and a Radical Hussite who led the Taborites. Žižka was a successful milit ...

during the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, Eur ...

. Trutnov was the site of the Battle of Trautenau in 1866 during the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the German occupiers operated three

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

camps for

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

women, located in Horní Staré Město, Poříčí and Libeč, which all became subcamps of the

Gross-Rosen concentration camp , known for = , location = , built by = , operated by = , commandant = , original use = , construction = , in operation = Summer of 1940 – 14 February 1945 , gas cham ...

in March 1944, and a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

for Allied POWs in Libeč. After the war, the remaining German population was expelled in 1945 in accordance with the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...

Demographics

Economy

The largest employers based in the town are Vitesco Technologies Czech Republic and Tyco Electronics EC Trutnov, both manufacturers of electrical equipment for automotive industry. The largest non-industrial employer is the Trutnov hospital. The Krakonoš Brewery was founded in 1582 and is one of the oldest breweries in the country.

Sport

The ice hockey team HC Trutnov is based in the town.

Culture

Trutnov has hosted the

Trutnov Open Air Music Festival Trutnov Open Air Music Festival is one of the biggest music festivals in the Czech Republic. Its origins go back to 1987 when it was founded on the tradition of underground culture in the city of Trutnov. Since the Velvet Revolution the festival ...

since 1990 and, since 1999, has hosted Obscene Extreme.

Sights

The historic core comprises the area of Vnitřní Město part of Trutnov, with Krakonoš Square (''Krakonošovo náměstí'') in its centre. The area was delimited by town walls in the 14th century. Their fragments are preserved to this day. The landmark of the square is the neo-Gothic Old Town Hall, nowadays the tourist information centre. In the middle of the square are a statue of

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

, a stone fountain with statue of Krakonoš, and the baroque Holy Trinity Column from 1704. The most valuable buildings of Trutnov are the three churches. Nativity of Mary Church is a Neoclassical building with late Baroque elements from 1756–1782. The Church of Saint Wenceslaus in Horní Staré Město part of Trutnov is first documented already in 1313. In 1581, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and a tower was added. The neo-Gothic Church of Saints Peter and Paul from 1897–1903 is located in Poříčí. The

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He be ...

Concert Hall is located in the former Lutheran church, built in the neo-Gothic style in 1900.

Twin towns – sister cities

Trutnov is twinned with: * Kamienna Góra, Poland * Kępno, Poland * Lohfelden, Germany *

Senica Senica (; german: Senitz; hu, Szenice) is a town in Trnava Region, western Slovakia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the Záhorie lowland, close to the Little Carpathians. Etymology The name is derived from the word ''seno'' ("hay") ...

, Slovakia *

Strzelin Strzelin (german: Strehlen, cz, Střelín) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is located on the Oława river, a tributary of the Oder, about south of the region's capital Wrocław. It is part of the Wrocław me ...

, Poland * Świdnica, Poland *

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, Germany

Notable people

* Samuel Fritz (1654 – c. 1730),

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary who made the first accurate map of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

* Vincenz Czerny (1842–1916), surgeon * Igo Etrich (1879–1967), Austrian flight pioneer *

Friedrich Hopfner Friedrich Hopfner (28 October 1881 – 5 September 1949) was an Austrian geodesist, geophysicist and planetary scientist. As an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire he began his scientific work at the Bureau of Meteorology. In 1921 he became Ch ...

(1881–1949), Austrian geodesist and geophysicist * Evelyn Faltis (1887–1937), composer *

Elsa Hilger Elsa Hilger (April 13, 1904 – May 17, 2005) was an American cellist. She was the first woman other than a harpist to become a member of a major symphony orchestra. She was born in Trutnov in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She began taking cell ...

(1904–2005), American cellist * Helen Lewis (1916–2009), dance teacher and choreographer *

Norbert Eimer Norbert Eimer (19 March 1940 – 3 February 2021) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as member of the German Bundestag. Life Eimer entered the German Bundestag in the 1976 federal elections via the FDP stat ...

(1940–2021), German politician *

Iris Gusner Iris Gusner (born Trautenau 16 January 1941) is a German film director and screenwriter. Life Gusner's father, Hans Walter Beyer, was a council official who was killed in the war. She took her name from her mother, who worked as a secretary. H ...

(born 1941), German film director and screenwriter * Rudolf Skácel (born 1979), footballer * Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová (born 1986), athlete * Marcela Krůzová (born 1990), footballer * Šárka Musilová (born 1991), Paralympic archer In 1974,

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

, the future president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, worked for nine months at the Krakonoš Brewery.

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Trutnov District 13th-century establishments in Bohemia Populated places established in the 13th century