Liberec

Liberec
City
Liberec Town Hall
Flag
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Liberec
District	Liberec
Elevation	374 m (1,227 ft)
Coordinates	50°43′N 15°4′E
Area	106.1 km2 (41 sq mi)
Population	104,946 (As of 2011)
Density	989 / km2 (2,561 / sq mi)
First mentioned	1352
Mayor	Martina Rosenbergová (Czech Social Democratic Party)
Postal code	460 01
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Liberec
Website: www.liberec.cz

Liberec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈlɪbɛrɛts] ( listen); German: Reichenberg) is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic.

Settled by German and Flemish migrants since the 14th century until their expulsion after World War II, Liberec was once home to a thriving textile industry and hence nicknamed the "Manchester of Bohemia". For many Czechs, Liberec is mostly associated with the city's dominant Ještěd Tower. Since the end of the 19th century, the city has been a conurbation with the suburb of Vratislavice and the neighboring town of Jablonec nad Nisou. Therefore the total area with suburbs encompasses 150,000 inhabitants. This makes Liberec the third-largest city (with suburbs) in Bohemia after Prague and Pilsen.

History

Liberec was first mentioned in a document from 1348, and from 1622 to 1634 was among the possessions of Albrecht von Wallenstein. After his death it belonged to the Gallas and Clam Gallas families. The cloth-making industry was introduced in 1579. The prosperous local industry was interrupted by the Thirty Years' War and a great plague in the 1680s. The Battle of Reichenberg between Austria and Prussia occurred nearby in 1757 during the Seven Years' War.

At one time the second city of Bohemia, the city developed rapidly at the end of the 19th century and as a result has a spectacular collection of late 19th century buildings; the town hall, the opera house, and the Severočeské Muzeum (North Bohemian Museum) are of significant note. The Opera House has a spectacular main curtain that was designed by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The neighborhoods on the hills above the town center display beautiful homes and streets, laid out in a picturesque Romantic style similar to some central European thermal spas.

After the end of World War I Austria-Hungary fell apart. The Czechs of Bohemia joined newly established Czechoslovakia on 29.10.1918, while the Germans joined German Austria on 12.11.1918, both citing Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the doctrine of Self Determination. Reichenberg became the capital of the Sudeten German province of German-Austria. On 16.12.1918 the Czechoslovak Army occupied Reichenberg and the Sudeten German province and both became part of Czechoslovakia.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Liberec became unofficial capital of Germans in Czechoslovakia. This position was underlined by foundations of important institution, like Buecherei der Deutschen, a central German library in Czechoslovakia, and by failed effort to relocate German (Charles) University from Prague to Liberec.

The World Crisis devastated the economy of the area with its textile, carpet, glass and other light industry. High number of unemployed people, hunger, fear of future and ignorance of Prague government led to the flash rise of populist SdP Party founded by Konrad Henlein, born in the suburbs of Liberec. However he declared fidelity to the Republic, he secretly negotiated with Adolf Hitler. In 1937 he radicalised his views and became voluntarily Hitler's puppet in order to destabilise and occupy the Czechoslovakia, which was an ally of France and was one of the leading weapon producers in Europe.

The city became the centre of Pan-German movements and later the Nazis especially after the 1935 election, despite it had an important democratic mayor Karl Kostka (German Democratic Freedom Party). The final change came in summer 1938, after the radicalisation of the terror of the Sudeten German Party (SdP), whose death threats forced Kostka and his family to flee to Prague.

In September 1938, after two unsuccessful attempts by the SdP to stage a pro-Nazi coup in Czechoslovakia which were suppressed by police and army, finally the Munich Agreement of 1938 changed the city to the capital of the Sudetengau within Nazi Germany. Most of the large city's Jewish and Czech population fled to the rests of Czechoslovakia or were expelled. Precious synagogue was burned down.

After the World War II, the liberated town became again a part of Czechoslovakia and nearly all of the city's German population was expelled following through the Beneš decrees. The region was then resettled by the Czechs. Until today, the city has an important German minority, consisting of anti-Nazi Germans active in struggle against Hitler as well as Germans from Czech-German families and its descendents. Liberec has also a Jewish minority with a newly-build synagogue and Greek minority of Communist refugees settled here after Greek Civil War in 1949.

Historical names

• 1352 Reychinberch
• 1369 Reychmberg
• 1385–99 Reichenberg
• 1410 Rychmberg
• 1545 Rychberk
• 1592 Lychberk
• 1634 Libercum
• 1790 Reichenberg, Liberk, Habersdorf
• 1834 Reichenberg, Liberk
• 1845 Reichenberg, Liberec

All forms of its names are derived from the medieval German word meaning "(the village on the) rich/resourceful mountain" (reicher Berg in modern German). The name was sometimes shortened to Richberk and Riberk, which gave rise to the Czech name Liberk. In Czech, words starting with "R" were often dissimilated into "L". The old street name Hablau near city centre is considered to be a trace of old village possibly founded by Havel of Lemberg, husband of Saint Zdislava of Lemberg.

Science and technology

Side view of the Regional Research Library

• Technical University of Liberec (Technická Univerzita v Liberci): Founded in 1953 as a Technical College. In 1995 gained the status of a university. It has about 10,000 students in 6 faculties (Mechanical Engineering, Textile Engineering, Architecture, Mechatronics, Humanities and Nature and Economics). Applied research in mechatronics, important school of architecture.
• Regional Science Library (Krajská vědecká knihovna): A general public science library, aiming at general education in the region. Originally founded in 1923 as a new umbrella library Buecherei der Deutschen. New building was completed in 2000. It has an exceptional collection of Germano-Slavica and Sudetica (periodicals and books in German language from Bohemia). Its building comprises also a modern synagogue.
• The North Bohemian Museum (Severočeské muzeum): Built in 1873. It ranks among the oldest and most significant museums of nature sciences, arts and crafts in the Czech Republic. There is the sculpture of T.G. Masaryk from 2010 standing in front of the Museum.

Zoo and botanical garden

Glasshouse of the Botanical Garden

• The zoo in Liberec was the first to be opened in Czechoslovakia in 1919. The zoo contains a wide variety of fauna (about 143 species on 13 ha), including large mammals like elephants, giraffes, sea lions and white tigers, which are a genetic anomaly and hence very rare. It participates in breeding activities of endangered species to help preserving the gene pool.

Theatre F.X.Šaldy in Liberec

• The Botanical Garden in Liberec (completely rebuilt from Kučera 1995 to 2000) comprises nine glasshouses for visitors (with a total area of 3,000 m² (32,291.73 sq ft) and 13 exhibition themes), nine plantation glasshouses and a large exterior terrain. It continues the legacy of a botanical garden established in 1876 by the Verein der Naturfreunde ("Society of Friends of Nature") on a nearby site and it is therefore considered the oldest one in the Czech Republic.

Events

• Mateřinka, a theatre festival biennally held in June

Ještěd mountain with TV tower

Architecture

Liberec's prominent buildings are the town hall (1893), the castle of Count Clam Gallas, built in the 17th century, and the Ještěd Tower (1968) upon the Ještěd Mountain, build by architect Karel Hubáček, which became a symbol of the city. Václav Havel held a broadcast from the site of the tower in 1968; a plaque beside the tower marks this event. Contemporary buildings of note are also to be found, primarily the work of the firm SIAL, and include the new Regional Research Library (2000) and the Česká Pojišťovna office building (1997).

Liberec Tram System

Liberec Tramway

The first tram was used in Liberec in 1897.
Liberec shares the narrow gauge tramway line which connects it to its neighboring city, Jablonec nad Nisou which is 12 km away. There are also two city lines with standard gauge: The first connects Horní Hanychov (not far to the cable car to Ještěd) and Lidové Sady via Fügnerova. The second connects Dolní Hanychov and Lidové Sady via Fügnerova (only during workdays). There also four historical trams. In the city centre there are two tracks as a memorial, in the past trams were used also on the central place in front of town hall.

Sport

FC Slovan Liberec a football club founded in Liberec and currently playing the highest division (Gambrinus liga). FC Slovan Liberec is one of the most successful clubs in the Czech Republic (2 league titles). HC Bílí Tygři Liberec finished top of the Extraliga (the highest national ice hockey league) in 2007-8. Liberec has hosted two European Luge Championships, having done so in 1914 and 1939 when the city was then known as Reichenberg. In 2009, it hosted the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. The Ski Jumping World Cup always comes to Liberec in January. The World Karate Championships takes place in May 2011

Notable people

• Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951), car designer born in a nearby village (Vratislavice nad Nisou) now part of Liberec
• Emil Artin (1898–1962), mathematician
• Roderich Menzel (1907–1987), tennis player
• Guido Beck (1903–1989), physicist
• Barbara Bouchet (born 1943), actress and entrepreneur
• Vlasta Burian (1891–1962), actor
• Martin Damm (born 1972), tennis player
• Christoph Demantius (1567–1643), composer and poet
• Tomáš Enge (born 1976), former F1 driver
• Herbert Feigl (1902–1988), philosopher
• Friedrich Karl Ginzel (1850–1926), astronomer
• Konrad Henlein (1898–1945), Nazi politician
• Heinrich Herkner (1863–1932), economist
• Harald Kreutzberg (1902–1968), dancer and choreographer
• Markus Lüpertz (born 1941), artist
• Petr Nedvěd (born 1971), former National Hockey League player, now playing for HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
• Edmund Nick (1891–1973), composer
• Fritz Preissler (1908–1948), luger
• Otfried Preußler (born 1923), writer
• Josef Proksch (1794–1864), composer and teacher of Bedřich Smetana
• Jaroslav Řídký (1897–1956), composer
• Augustin Schramm (1907–1948), communist politician and officer
• Cesar Baena (born 1986), cross country skier
• Martin Cikl (born 1987), World cup ski jumper
• Jaroslav Masopust (born 1929), physician, clinical biochemist
• Svetlana Frolikova (born 1976), porn actress
• Jaroslav Nedvěd (* 1969), ice-hockey player
• Jan Víšek (* 1981), ice-hockey player
• Lukáš Derner (* 1983), ice-hockey player
• Jana Potyšová (Eufrat) (born 1985), adult internet/video model

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic

Twin towns – sister cities

Liberec is twinned with:

• Amersfoort, Netherlands
• Amiens, France
• Augsburg, Germany
• Nahariya, Israel
• St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Zittau, Germany
• Dunkerque, France
• Kovrov, Russia

External links

• Municipal website (Czech) (German)
• Liberec portal
• Tramway Liberec (Czech)
• Liberec Botanical Garden
• Liberec Zoo
• Liberec travel guide from Wikitravel
• Oblastni galerie v Liberci (Museum of art)