kaple Zvěstování Panny Marie Sedmibolestné u zámku Karlova Koruna Chapel

North of Karlova Koruna Castle in Chlumci nad Cidlinou stands a small chapel in the castle garden. It is located by the main avenue that approaches the castle from the north, on the edge of a slope at the margin of the flat space in front of the main castle building. The entire castle complex is protected as a cultural monument.

The chapel was built after 1730 according to an older design. Its nave was apparently constructed between 1741 and 1745, and in 1746 a license was issued for the chapel. According to a record from the Hradec Králové bishop's consistory from 1770, construction was begun by Leopold Count Kinský and completed by his son František Ferdinand Count Kinský, the highest chancellor of the Czech Kingdom. In 1765 the chapel received a tower and ground-floor extensions of the sacristy and oratory. It is built of quarried stone and ashlar, vaulted with a brick vault, and paved with stone inside.

Initially it was not consecrated. Later it was referred to as the Chapel of the Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows or the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It was consecrated only in August 1999 and today bears the name of Saint John the Baptist according to the altarpiece painting.

The interior space has a circular floor plan, but from the outside it is surrounded by a quadrangular shell with distinctly cut corners. This solution points to Jan Blažej Santini Aichel. Typical for him is the delicate rustication of the facades, the mansard roof of the tower, and the elliptical windows. However, some details suggest that his design was modified and modernized during construction. If Santini was indeed the author, he must have created the design by 1723 at the latest, when he died. The construction was apparently carried out by František Kermer, who is documented in 1759 working on the castle's water supply facility.

The chapel is entered through the ground floor of the tower on the east side. From the entrance hall a staircase led to the oratory and from there to a small room on the tower's second floor. The second floor of the tower houses space for bells. The interplay of the tower and nave with the dome resembles a miniature church rather than a chapel. It is strikingly similar to the pilgrimage church in Křtiny in its mass, floor plan, and arrangement of windows, where an elliptical window lies above a rectangular window with a semicircular arch.

During reconstructions in the 1960s and in 1999, the side wings of the sacristy and storage room as well as the supporting pillars were incorrectly removed. This was based on the assumption that they were not original and were created only between 1880 and 1890.