Hořice

Hořice is a town in the Jičín District of the Hradec Králové Region in the Czech Republic, with about 8,400 inhabitants. It lies about 21 kilometres southeast of Jičín and 21 kilometres northwest of Hradec Králové, on the border between the hilly Jičín Uplands to the north and the flat East Elbe Table to the south, with the Bystřice River crossing its eastern part. The first written mention dates from 1143, in the foundation deed of the Strahov Monastery, and the settlement was documented as a market town in 1365. After a great fire in 1846 destroyed the wooden houses around the square, stone buildings replaced them and local sandstone quarrying grew into the basis of the town economy. Hořice is known for its secondary school of applied arts, founded in 1884 and focused on stone work, and for Hořické trubičky, a traditional rolled confectionery made there since 1812 and protected by a European Union geographical indication. Its landmarks include a Baroque church by Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer and a Baroque castle.