A visit to Hronov, birthplace of Alois Jirásek, with a stop at the Signal viewpoint: 2 km to 8 km

Hronov is an attractive small town at the edge of the Broumovsko Protected Landscape area and is worth a stop, especially for those wanting to discover a little more about one of the country’s most influential figures of the late 19th century, Alois Jirásek. His birthplace and family house (pictured below) is now an interesting museum, which is open from May to September (map point 3). The town also has a separation exhibition on Jirásek in the main museum (map point 2).
Alois Jirásek was born into a peasant family in the east Bohemian town of Hronov in 1851. He became the country’s most popular and successful historical novelist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1918 and 1930, Jirásek was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His influence, however, went far beyond the stories he wrote about romantic figures from Czech history. He was a central character in the birth of the nation. For more on this interesting figure, who deserves to be better known, follow this link.
In addition to the Jirásek museums, the area around the Church of All Saints is well worth a visit. The church is originally Gothic, reconstructed in Baroque style after damage during the 30 Years War. The churchyard is dominated by the late Renaissance belltower (pictured below). Finally, the Rosary Garden (the former cemetery) was beautifully refurbished in 2018 and now hosts a series of paintings by a local artist (map point 5).
After exploring the attractions of Hronov and wanting a longer walk in the nearby countryside, consider hiking up to the Signál viewing tower for an excellent viewpoint and to see some partly reconstructed pre WWII fortifications (see picture below). It is a 2 km walk to the tower on the direct route from the station. If driving in the area and pressed for time, there is parking directly at the tower (map point 8). The trip to Signál can also be done as a circular walk following the nature trail along the railway and climbing the hill from the Velké Poříč train station. This is the route shown in the map below.
If embarking on the hike to and from Signál, this involves 150m of ascent-descent on an easy forest footpath. The footpath is part of the long distance trail, named after Alois Jirásek, the Jiráskova cesta. For refreshments in town, consider a stop at the Pod křídly anděla café on the corner of the main square (map point 6).

Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file

Directions

Hronov has excellent bus connections, including direct connections with Prague. There is free parking at the station and paid parking on the main square
From the bus-train station follow the RED trail into Hronov square and then down the main street to Jirásek’s house and the Church
For the walk up to the Signál viewing tower, if going direct, take the RED trail in the opposite direction from the town center. Return on the same trail
If taking the circular route, follow the nature trail markers along the railway and then take the YELLOW hiking path up to Signál, and return back along the RED trail