Local History Museum of Dobruška

The museum’s main building – historical exhibitions, mikveh and synagogue

The museum’s main building is located in house no. 45 on Šubert Square. The visitor route consists of three parts. The first presents notable figures from Dobruška’s history, followed by the core exhibition, The Story of the Town of Dobruška. It tells of the town’s and region’s past from the earliest prehistoric times to the present day. The finale is The Story of the Jewish Community of Dobruška, which also includes a unique mikveh – a Jewish ritual purification bath. The tour continues in the synagogue interior, where visitors learn about the history of the Jews of Dobruška.

F. L. Věk’s birthplace

About 50 metres from the square stands the birthplace of František Vladislav Hek. The white cottage with a shingled roof and a wooden gallery evokes life at the beginning of the 19th century. In the living room you will see period hand-painted furniture, glass paintings, a spinning wheel and a meadow mower. It is followed by a merchant’s shop with examples of goods sold at the time and its equipment. Particular attention is drawn to the wooden scale holders in the shape of mermaids, which came from Hek’s property and also appeared in the TV series F. L. Věk. The exhibition also includes the former black kitchen with a cauldron, vessels and a carved beehive log – a hollowed trunk hive.

Garden lapidarium

Behind F. L. Věk’s birthplace you will find the Garden Lapidarium complex, where stone monuments rescued during surveys in Dobruška and the surrounding area, or donated by their finders, are concentrated. Among the exhibited items are, for example, parts of historic crosses and tombstones, stone boundary markers, a stone bowl, or the portal of a burgher’s house. The lapidarium thus commemorates small monuments that might otherwise gradually disappear from the landscape and public space.

Town Hall Tower 

The Town Hall Tower is the dominant feature of F. L. Věk Square and one of Dobruška’s symbols. A total of 124 steps lead to the viewing gallery at a height of 45 metres, and the reward for the climb is a view of the town, the Podorlicko region and the Orlické Mountains, and in good visibility also the Krkonoše Mountains. Beyond the entrance area is the permanent exhibition The Youth of František Kupka, who, although born in neighbouring Opočno, spent his childhood and youth in Dobruška. On display are his earliest works, a portrait of Kupka’s father, a panoramic painting of Dobruška, and a hanging sign with a hobby-horse motif. On the way up you can also see an exhibition devoted to medieval capital jurisdiction, the work of Dobruška chronicler Alois Beer, and a historic clock mechanism.

Military geography

In the historic Rýdl Villa, designed by architect Jan Kotěra, the attic houses the Military Geography exhibition. It presents the development of military geography, mapmaking, instruments and aids used by military geographers, as well as methods of securing troops. You will also become acquainted with prominent figures in the field and with the history of the Military Geographic and Hydrometeorological Office in Dobruška. The exhibition was opened in 2018 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Geographic Service of the Army of the Czech Republic.

The House of František Kupka

The standalone exhibition The House of František Kupka was created in 2021 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the world-renowned painter. It is located in two authentic rooms where Kupka’s family lived in 1882–1892, and it guides visitors through his life and work from his childhood in Opočno and Dobruška, through studies in Jaroměř, Prague and Vienna, to his journey to Paris. Among the most interesting exhibits is the original watercolour Rocks in Brittany from 1905. The second part presents Kupka’s work during the First World War, his activities in the legions, and his participation in the creation of an independent Czechoslovakia. The conclusion is devoted to his transition to abstract art. The house also includes an edutainment zone intended for children and adults alike.

Jewish cemetery

The local history museum also administers the Jewish cemetery, which was established in Dobruška in 1675. The oldest preserved tombstones date from 1688 and commemorate the history of the local Jewish community. In the original part of the cemetery, stela-type tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions have been preserved. Of interest is also a common grave of Jewish soldiers of the Austrian army who fell in the Battle of Náchod in 1866. The cemetery was significantly expanded in 1881.