Hospitál Kuks

About the museum

The hospital at Kuks was founded at the will of Count František Antonín Špork, who around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries transformed his estate on the right bank of the Elbe into a Baroque complex. The hospital was meant to serve as a shelter for the elderly and infirm. The main building and the Church of the Holy Trinity, which was also intended as the family vault of the Šporks, were built around 1707–1717 to designs by Giovanni Battista Alliprandi. Around 1720 allegorical statues of virtues and vices by Matthias Bernhard Braun were added in front of the hospital; their originals are now kept in the lapidarium.

Špork died in 1738 and did not live to see the hospital open. In 1743 the Brothers Hospitallers moved to Kuks, and their first prior, Narcis Schön, set up in the hospital the pharmacy At the Pomegranate, one of the oldest surviving Baroque pharmacies in Central Europe. The order remained in the building until 1938, when it had to leave after the Munich Agreement.

After the brothers left, the building served as a warehouse, a school and a museum, among other uses; during the war it housed a reformatory for young offenders, and after 1945 government offices, an archive and a hospital were located there. The hospital was declared a cultural monument in 1958 and a national cultural monument in 1995. From 2010 the Kuks – Granátové jablko restoration project was carried out, and after reconstruction the site reopened in March 2015. It is now administered by the National Heritage Institute. Visitors can choose from four tour routes, walk through the herb garden and buy herbal products at the herbalist’s shop.

Highlights

• Baroque pharmacy At the Pomegranate from 1743
• restored wall paintings of the Dance of Death in the main corridor
• Church of the Holy Trinity with the Špork family vault
• lapidarium with the originals of Braun’s statues of virtues and vices
• herb garden with 144 beds of medicinal plants

Permanent exhibitions

• Základní okruh Hospitál – The tour begins in the picture gallery with the founder Špork and the Brothers Hospitallers and continues through the corridor with the Dance of Death paintings, the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Baroque pharmacy to the lapidarium with the originals of Braun’s statues.
• Šporkovská hrobka – A short tour of the crypt beneath the Church of the Holy Trinity, where members of the Špork and Swéerts-Špork families are buried.
• Expozice České farmaceutické muzeum (okruhy Historie lékáren a Historie výroby léků) – Two exhibitions on the history of pharmacies and the production of medicines in the hospital premises; details are given in a separate entry for the Czech Pharmaceutical Museum.

Operated by

Národní památkový ústav (ÚPS na Sychrově)

Admission & discounts

The prices apply to the individual tour routes; the basic Hospitál route costs CZK 220. Payment is possible by card or in cash, and tickets can also be bought online. Free NPÚ tickets and passes (annual and one-time free tickets, the NPÚ employee card, the Náš člověk card) apply to the Hospitál and Špork Crypt routes, but not to the Pharmacy History and Medicine Production routes. The ICOMOS card and the Ministry of Culture employee card apply only to the basic route.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The site, including the courtyard and the herb garden, is step-free. The paths are gravel and may give way in spring. The Hospitál and Pharmacy History routes lead to the first floor (17 steps); a lift is available on request at the ticket office. The Baroque pharmacy and the lapidarium are entered via mobile ramps. The Špork Crypt and the hospital cemetery are not accessible. An accessible toilet is at the ticket office, and two spaces for people with reduced mobility are in the car park by the Hospoda Na Sýpce. Blind and visually impaired visitors can borrow a tactile book and a tactile plan of the site; hard-of-hearing visitors can borrow a printed text of the main tour commentary free of charge at the ticket office. Assistance dogs may enter the interiors with prior consent.

Kids & families

• Baby changing facilities

A nappy-changing table is in the accessible toilet at the ticket office. Children under 15 may enter the interiors, the courtyard and the garden only with an adult. Children aged 6 to 17 pay the reduced entry fee; children up to age 5 enter free.

Getting there & parking

Kuks lies on road I/37 between Dvůr Králové nad Labem and Jaroměř; from Hradec Králové it is about 30 km (about 20 minutes via the D11 motorway). A 26 km cycle path from Hradec Králové, suitable for children too, leads to Kuks. Bicycle stands are in front of the ticket office, in the courtyard and in front of the Hospoda Na Sýpce. Bicycles must be walked inside the site.

Amenities & dining

• Restaurant
• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

The Hospoda Na Sýpce inn stands by the hospital. Souvenirs (postcards, ceramics, magnets, chocolate) are sold at the ticket office; the herbalist’s shop in the courtyard sells herbal and fruit products, syrups, teas and mead. At the ticket office there are self-service lockers for large backpacks and walking sticks (deposit: a CZK 10 coin). Toilets are free at the ticket office and in the courtyard. Wi-Fi is mentioned only for tenants of premises, on request.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Weddings / ceremonies

Up to 100 guests.

Classrooms (15–30 people), the theatre in the courtyard (about 60 people) and the refectory (up to 100 seats) are available for hire. Ceremonies take place in the Baroque pharmacy (about 35 guests), in the lapidarium and in the courtyard or garden (about 100 guests), and church ceremonies in the Church of the Holy Trinity (almost 100 guests). The ceremony fee is CZK 4,000.

Plan your visit