General Gablenz Monument

The Gablenz monument commemorates one of the battles of the Austrian-Prussian war fought here on 27 June 1866. It was built also as a viewing tower with an inner spiral staircase, offering great views of the surrounding countryside. The monument with the viewing tower on the summit of Sibenik Hill is open to the public from May to September on weekends.

The battle of Trutnov on 27 June 1866 was won by the soldiers of the 10^th Austrian Corps led by General Ludwig von Gablenz. It was the only Austrian victory in the 1866 war in the northern battlefield. To honour this army leader and commemorate the glorious victory, a 17-m tall obelisk-shaped monument made of cast iron was inaugurated two years after the battle on the Sibenik Hill. The monument gives the names of all the fallen Austrian officers and the numbers of casualties from each unit. The victory near Trutnov was dearly won: the Austrians lost almost 5,000 soldiers, four times as many as the Prussians. General Gablenz committed suicide in Zurich in January 1874. His remains were then transferred from the Zurich cemetery to Trutnov, along with the original tombstone, and lodged in the monument’s crypt.