Cemetery in Trutnov

The Municipal Cemetery in Trutnov is one of the oldest and most historically layered burial grounds in Trutnov, a town in the Hradec Králové region of the Czech Republic, at the foot of the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains. Located in the Horní Předměstí district between today's Královédvorská and Volanovská streets, it has served as the town's main cemetery for well over a century.

How did the cemetery come to be?

The present cemetery was established in 1875, replacing an older burial ground near the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which had run out of capacity. Trutnov was going through a period of rapid industrial growth in the second half of the 19th century, driven mainly by textile manufacturing, and the resulting population boom made a larger cemetery on the edge of town a necessity.

What can visitors see there today?

The centerpiece of the cemetery is the neo-Romanesque Chapel of the Holy Cross, designed by local Trutnov builder Adolf Bohatý. Pseudo-Renaissance arcades flank the chapel on both sides, sheltering the elaborate tombs of prominent local entrepreneurs — a visible trace of the wealth the textile industry brought to the town around the turn of the 20th century. Together, the chapel and arcades form a cohesive historicist ensemble typical of Central European municipal cemeteries from that era.

Why does the site matter beyond its role as a burial ground?

The ground where the cemetery now stands had already seen conflict before it was ever consecrated. On 27 June 1866, during the Austro-Prussian War, Austrian and Prussian cavalry clashed here as part of the Battle of Trutnov — the Austrian army held off the Prussian advance, though at a heavy cost. Decades later, in the 20th century, the cemetery became the resting place of soldiers and legionnaires from both World Wars, as well as Red Army soldiers who died during the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945. These layers of military graves, spanning nearly a century, effectively turn the cemetery into a silent record of the region's turbulent history.

When were the first urns placed here?

After the town authorized cremation in 1912, the cemetery received the first cremation urns in the area — an early example of changing funerary customs in Czech towns at the start of the 20th century, as cremation gradually became a recognized alternative to traditional burial.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the cemetery located? In the Horní Předměstí district of Trutnov, between Královédvorská and Volanovská streets.

What is the most notable architectural feature? The neo-Romanesque Chapel of the Holy Cross, flanked by pseudo-Renaissance arcades containing the tombs of local entrepreneurial families.

Are there war graves at the cemetery? Yes — it holds the graves of soldiers and legionnaires from both World Wars, as well as Red Army soldiers who fell during the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia.

How old is the cemetery? It dates back to 1875, when it replaced an earlier cemetery by the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary that had become too small.

Does the site have historical significance beyond burials? Yes — before the cemetery existed, the site was the scene of a cavalry skirmish during the 1866 Battle of Trutnov in the Austro-Prussian War, adding a military historical layer that predates its use as a graveyard.

For visitors to Trutnov, the municipal cemetery is more than a place of quiet remembrance — it is something of an open-air history lesson, tracing the town's story from industrial growth through two world wars to shifting funerary customs over the past century and a half.