Trutnov is a town in the foothills of the Giant Mountains with a historic core that has been an urban heritage zone since 1990.
Trutnov is a town whose beginnings are linked with the settlement of Úpa and whose historic centre lies at the foot of the Giant Mountains. In the 12th century a path called the Trutnov Path ran across the slopes of the Giant Mountains, connecting Prague with Wrocław.[1]
Earliest history and legends
The oldest Trutnov legend tells of the slaying of a dragon, which according to tradition took place in 1006. The dragon became the central figure of the town's coat of arms. In the period of the National Revival the legend was retold, and this version was captured by Mikoláš Aleš in the eighth lunette in the National Theatre in Prague.[1]
The first written mention of Trutnov, then a settlement called Úpa, dates from the 13th century, from a charter of Idík of Úpa of the Švábenice family, which documents the donation of local property to the Crosiers of Zderaz. The rynk, today's square, likewise arose in the 13th century under the last Přemyslids.[1][2]
14th to 16th centuries
At the end of the 13th century the Švábenice family died out and Dvorsko merged with the Trutnov area, creating a fief district named after the Trutnov area. The town became a royal town. The church of St Wenceslas in Horní Staré Město, which is today part of Trutnov, is documented in writing for 1313.[1]
King Wenceslas IV gave Trutnov to his second wife Sophia of Bavaria, whereby the town became one of the Royal Dowry Towns, where, with interruptions, it remained until the present according to the text of the source. From 1421 Trutnov was in the hands of the Hussites, on whose side it also stood in the Battle of Lipany in 1434. Johlín of Vodňany, a Crosier of Zderaz and a predecessor of Jan Hus, was active in the Trutnov area.[1]
At the turn of the Middle Ages and the modern era Simon Hüttel recorded the history of Trutnov from 1484 to 1601 in his chronicle, in which he also captured old legends, including that of the slaying of the dragon. The first mention of a paper mill in Trutnov, one of the oldest in Czechia, dates from 1505. In 1517 a workshop producing counterfeit coins was discovered in the vaults of the castle.[1]
17th and 18th centuries
In 1654 the traveller, cartographer and missionary Samuel Fritz, author of the first detailed map of the Amazon, was born in Trutnov. After the lost Battle of White Mountain the town's property was confiscated, Trutnov was captured twice by the Swedes, who demolished the château, and the imperial army completed the devastation. The town was also struck by plague.[1]
Emperor Joseph II visited Trutnov twice, first in 1766 for a few hours and again in 1771, when he enquired about the population's livelihood and the causes of hardship. He came to the Trutnov area two more times in connection with the so-called Potato War of 1778–1779. At that time the first post office was built in Trutnov and bloody clashes took place here between rebelling peasants and the imperial army.[1]
Historic centre, urban heritage zone
The historic core of Trutnov has been an urban heritage zone since 1990. It forms an irregular oval shape, still visible today, which was originally bounded by town walls with three gates: the Upper, called the Prague Gate, the Middle, called the Mountain Gate, and the Lower, called the Silesian Gate.[2]
The centre of the zone is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the former château and Krakonoš Square with the building of the Old Town Hall from the 16th century, the Krakonoš Fountain, a column with a sculptural group of the Holy Trinity and about 150 burghers' houses arranged in blocks. The square still keeps an almost square shape and the street-network system from the time of its origin. Arcades line all four sides of the square and the adjoining streets.[2]
A tour of the historic centre can be taken individually or as a guided walk called From Statue to Statue. The address of the centre of the zone is given as Krakonošovo náměstí, Trutnov, with the coordinates 50.5611078 N, 15.9132431 E.[2]
Other sights
On the top of the hill Šibeník stands the twenty-metre-high Memorial of General Gablenz in the form of an obelisk, commemorating the Battle of Trutnov of 27 June 1866.[2]
Since the end of 2010 the town has had the Social and Cultural Centre of the Trutnov Region Uffo.[2]