Kuks Hospital

Kuks Hospital in the Podkrkonoší region was founded by Count František Antonín Špork at the beginning of the 18th century as a resting place for retired soldiers who were cared for by the Order of the Merciful Brothers. It is an important Baroque monument, the design of which was created by world-class artists, especially architect Giovanni Batista Alliprandi and sculptor Matthias Bernard Braun, the author of the sculptures of allegories of Virtues and Vices. The hospital fulfilled its function until 1938 when the Merciful Brothers and their wards had to leave the building due to the Munich Agreement. In the following years it served as a warehouse, a school, a museum, a reformatory and a shelter for German women and children fleeing from the advancing Red Army. At the end of the 1950s a gradual journey towards the preservation of the Baroque complex began. In 1995 the Hospital was declared a national cultural monument. Between 2013 and 2015, the most challenging phase of the revitalisation of the hospital took place, and the public was able to see the building in March 2015.

The hospital offers you a choice of 4 guided tours, solely dependant on whether you are more interested in history or pharmacy. In addition to one of the oldest pharmacies, U Granátového jablka, there is also an exhibition of the Czech Pharmaceutical Museum.

The herb garden is freely accessible to visitors. It extends behind the hospital building since the beginning of the 18th century. Medicinal plants have always been grown here for the needs of the local pharmacy, but also fruit and vegetables for the hospital kitchen.