Hermitage of St. Francis in Dvorce, hermitage site in Bor forest near Lysá nad Labem, Czech Republic

The Hermitage of St. Francis in Dvorce no longer stands; only a symbolic pavilion marks its site at the crossing of former forest avenues, about 1 km west of Dvorce. The Baroque hermitage comprised a chapel of St. Francis and a two-storey Salettl with decorated rooms for nobility upstairs and servants' quarters below. Two statues from the site survive elsewhere: St. Francis on the square Na Františku in Lysá nad Labem and St. Anthony at the church in Kostomlaty.

Count František Antonín Špork had this Baroque hermitage built in the forest called Bor near Dvorce. A mention from 1692 exists, but Johann Georg Vogt described it in 1712, so the often-cited founding year 1717 is probably an error. It comprised the chapel of St. Francis and the two-storey Salettl, with decorated rooms for the nobility upstairs and servants' quarters below. After Špork's death in 1738 his son-in-law František Karel Rudolf Swéerts-Špork let the hermitage decay.

The hermitage took its name from Saint Francis of Assisi, to whom its chapel was dedicated. A statue of the saint once stood directly beside the building; today it stands among the memorial lindens in the small square Na Františku in Lysá nad Labem, while the statue of Saint Anthony was moved to the church in Kostomlaty. Count Špork is said to have celebrated his name day here in 1729.

The site is reached on foot via forest paths approximately 1 kilometer west of Dvorce village. Sturdy footwear and some map reading are helpful as trails can be unmarked, and the wooded setting requires careful navigation.

The pavilion standing here today is a symbolic reminder built by the state forest enterprise Lesy ČR in 2008 at the crossing of the former avenues, not a restoration of an older structure. An octagonal wooden pavilion with a table and benches had already stood on the hermitage site from the late 19th century until it vanished after World War I, leaving only the local name "U Altánu" for this part of the Bor forest. In 2011, actors from Kuks performed a play called Theatrum u sv. Františka beside the renewed pavilion.