Kostel Nejsvětější Trojice (Kuks) Church

The Church of the Holy Trinity grew from 1707 to 1715 as the central building of the Baroque Hospital in Kuks, founded by the owner of the local estate Count František Antonín Špork. The construction was entrusted to Italian builders - architects Giovanni Battista Alliprándi, builder Antonio Pietr Nettola and stonemason Pietr Giovanni Dell Torre. The church was to serve as part of a shelter for approximately a hundred war veterans and old servants from Šporkov Manor, with whom it was connected on the north side, facing the Elbe.

In the early 1709, the construction works were intensified - the stone was transported by up to 72 horses. Already in 1710 the space was covered and the top of the temple decorated with the first plastics. The interior decoration was completely taken over by Italian artists and craftsmen. On 20 August 1717 the church was ceremonially consecrated by John Adam Wroclaw of Mitrovich. The interesting thing is that even before his official consecration, in 1712, a second-born daughter František Antonín Špork, Anna Kateřina, married her cousin at the church. In the same year, the remains of General Jan Špork, originally buried in Lysé nad Labem, were also stored in the church crypt.

The architectural solution of the church is quite unique. The Его floor plan, which connects the Latin cross into the octagonal, has no direct equivalent in Central Europe according to historians. The church is located in the centre of the north facade of the hospice in the middle of a large terrace, which is decorated by allegorical statues of the Virtue and the Nerds of Matthias Bernard Braun. The outside facade is intricately shaped with polling edges, scraped by corners and various shampoo windows. The priestry was located unconventional in the south of the church to harmonically connect the building to the hospital complex.

The campus of the hospice, originally intended as a monastery of religious anunciatas, was gradually extended and completed in 1748, ten years after Sporko's death. Further adjustments were made during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1769, Trutnov builder Leopold Niederocker performed restoration work, and in 1872, the architect Jan Schmoranz brought a neo-gothic treatment. From 1743 until the German occupation in 1938, members of the Order of Merciful Brothers took care of the running of the Kuk Hospital.

Today, the church is part of the Kuks Monument Reserve and was declared a national cultural monument in 1995. The unique architectural ensemble with excellent sculpting decoration became the dominant of not only the village but also the landscape surrounding Trutnova. Under the church was preserved the family tomb of Šporky and Swéerts- Sportsk. From 2013 to 2015, extensive reconstruction of the premises including gardens and farm buildings took place.