The Town Dvůr Králové nad Labem

Used to be the given town of Czech queens. In these days one of the most important centres of textile industry in eastern part of the country. The town with many historical, cultural  and artistic monuments and with gorgeous neighbourhoods full of point of interests that are regularly visited by many tourists and visitors. The town is situated  in the  fold  with river Labe as the natural axis. From the north side the valley is bordered by woods - Království and from the west  by 671 m  tall mountain Zvičina. From the south the valley is closed down by well known and admired  reservation Kuks and Betlém.

Tešnov dam

The dam, that is considered as the most beautiful valley dam in the country, is located against the stream of river Labe only a few kilometres away from Dvůr Králové nad Labem. The main reason for building the dam here were the enormous floods back in July 1897. The construction works started in 1910 in line with construction of dam nearby of Špindlerův Mlýn. These dams were supposed to avoid the damage that has been caused by floods in 1897 in the area of Dvůr Králové and Jaroměř. In these days the dam is still protecting the area from the "big water" but also it is used for production of electricity.  It has been protected as the technical monument since 1964.

Kuks

Still admired not only by Czech tourists but also by foreign visitors - historical monument and reservation Kuks and Betlém.  The initial Kuks founder was F.A. Špork back in 1694. The basic incentive to establish the place were the sources of mineral water that were found in the area. Gradually there were built facilities such as chapel, church, pharmacy, hospital, castle, the house of philosophers, library, administrative building, public houses, wooden theatre, wind mill, spa houses, etc. Kuks became the centre of Špork's  lordship and was very popular place for the nobility. The part of Kuks was demolished by fire in 1740. The castle was torn down in 1901, the public houses and administrative building were rebuilt. The only monuments that survived are some
of the spa houses, the hospital with the church and a stair with water cascade. A number of artists were working on Kuks decoration. The most important one was certainly M. B. Braun that start to work on a local sculpture decoration in 1712.  The most significant pieces are the sculptures in his cycle of  "Virtues and Vices".

Betlém

Approximately 3 kilometres from Kuks, in the area between villages Stanovice and Hřibojedy, you can find collection of plastics from M. B. Braun and his students. The collection was created in the natural environment of Nový les in the period of 1726 - 1733. The collection is called Betlem in accordance with its main motive.

ZOO - Safari

Only 5 kilometers drive from us and you will get in front of the one of the most important ZOO in Europe. The specialisation of local ZOO is breeding of the African animals such as giraffes, zebras, antelopes rhinos and so on. The experts consider ZOO as the unique genobank of African animals. During  summer you can see SAFARI that, in two different parts, walking and bus part,  introduces animals in the environment similar to one they  live in the wild nature.

The visit of local ZOO is one of the things you cannot miss when being in Dvůr Králové nad Labem.