The municipality of Černilov which formerly belonged to the royal chamber lies near Hradec Králové. It is mentioned as a large village with a small church already in the 13th centry. It lies on the Černilov brook at an altitude of 253 metres and about 2,300 inhabitants live here. Further it was mentioned that “the soil here is heavy but fertile“. Already during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy a special Water team was founded here to takes care of drainage of wet lands.
Černilov can be proud of three churches: the Roman Catholic Finding of St. Stephen’s Church with a slender tower was built in the middle of the 18th century. There are St. Stephen’s and St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s statues on the main altar. A sandstone font is from 1895. The church has colourfully decorated windows.
We will mention in more details about a life of the local congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) and its two churches. After the declaration of the Toleration Patent part of the Protestants joined the Augsburg confession, they created a congregation and built a Neo-Classicist church in 1889 on the place of the original wooden house of prayer. This so called “lower church“ stopped being used and after the establishing of the ECCB it declined. There is a ceremonial funeral hall today.
The reformed congregation in Černilov has its origin in 1784. A barn was the first sanctuary for worship but already two years later a wooden house of prayer was built. It served still in 1830; a brick building was built in those days but it was without a tower. It had only a small turret with a bell. The church got its final Neo-Renaissance appearance by adding entry portal and a tower. (Josef Blecha’s company from Prague performed the building in 1882). The walls inside are decorated by verses from Psalms and from Luke’s Gospel. Memorial tablets commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus’s birth and a date of beginning a construction of the church.
In the middle of the 19th century a new rectory was built near the church. After some repaires it still serves. Recently the municipality bought an old Protestant school that is near the church. This school should be changed into cultural and club house. An original shape of building was kept; an original chalice and Bible above the entrance were restored, too. The Protestants of Černilov gather here in winter.