On the map we will find Trutnov at the foothills of the Krkonoše Mountains. The river Úpa flows through this ancient town which has a dragon in its coat of arms. It lies at an altitude of 404 metres and 34,000 inhabitants live here. A historical part of the town is a Historic Town Zone.
Since the 14th century Trutnov was a royal town and a dowry town of the Czech queens. Canvas was the main article coming from Trutnov to the royal court; the local linen industry had a great reputation already at that time. In 1421 during the Hussite wars Trutnov was conquered by the Hussites. Later in the year 1642 the town was conquered and burned down by the Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War. In 1647 the Swedes seized Trutnov again and they also devastated its castle.
In the Renaissance period the houses with arcades were built on its historic square. There are also buildings from the Baroque and Empire period. The square is decorated with the Krakonoš Fountain. The original Renaissance town hall was rebuilt in a Pseudo-Gothic style. There is a museum in a late Empire style on the place of the former castle.
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary’s Church from 1755–1769, a late Baroque building with Classicist elements, was built on a place of a church from the 13th century. There is a valuable equipment inside. The tower is 63 metres high. In the 18th century Trutnov witnessed a great peasant rebellion and later the Austrian and Prussian troops clashed here in 1866. The other disasters affected the town, too: a big fire in 1861 and devastating floods in 1897.
Trutnov was predominantly a German town. In the year 1900 a National (Czech) House was opened which was a big event. The 19th and the 20th centuries brought cultural and industrial development. The town became an important railway junction and a centre of the textile industry. In 1938 the Nazis burned down the synagogue, the border lands were occupied and Trutnov became a part of the German Empire.
After the liberation and after the Germans left, new people settled in Trutnov. After the year 1948 the old monuments fell into disrepair. New housing estates were being built. Only after 1989 Trutnov began to live again.
After the Second World War the Czechoslovak Hussite Church took over the German Lutheran Neo-Gothic church from the year 1900 with an octagonal, 43 metres high tower. The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) gained an Art Nouveau rectory. A new ECCB congregation was established on the 1st of August 1947.
Both churches held services here, however, later the church fell into disrepair and it was even planned to demolish it. But luckily, in the 1980s it was converted into a nice concert hall. It is named after Bohuslav Martinů and it is decorated with sculptor Olbram Zoubek’s statues. Sometimes a worship of the Trutnov Protestant congregation (it has its own worship room in a rectory) is held here.
Janské Lázně (The Janské Spa) is a preaching station of the Trutnov congregation. Janské Lázně is a famous spa and a recreation centre under Černá Hora (the Black Mountain) in the Krkonoše Mountains. The healing springs were discovered here already in the 16th century. Their biggest development came after the First World War. In the year 1935 the first institute in Europe to treat the children affected by polio-myelitis was established here.
After 1945 the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) gained a small church from the German Augsburg congregation. It was built in 1879 in a Neo-Gothic style with a polygonal tower. In 1950 the ECCB bought a former rectory building near the small church; soon, this building became a popular recreational centre for the Protestants. It was known under the name Sola Fide. Later this popular building underwent a reconstruction and a modern mountain house was built. The new house of Sola Fide was solemnly reopened on the 26th of May 1991 and it belongs among the most favourite recreational centres of the ECCB members and their guests.