History has repeatedly taken place at the main square of Liberec, just the way it suits the main square of any city. It was and continues to be the most important stage of history of the city. Perhaps the most dramatic chapter of modern history that the Beneš Square has ever witnessedwas written …
The library of Liberec is only seemingly an ordinary public building. In fact, you’re standing in front of a multi-faceted work of art. It is the work of many authors but its chief architect and the spiritual leader of the whole creative process was Věra Vohlídalová. The library is the result of …
The publisher from Liberec, Roman Karpaš, recalls the playground of his childhood that used to be located on the site of the present-day SokolovSquare. He describes how he used to explore the mysterious Wallenstein houses in Větrná Street. The complex of the oldest preserved buildings in Liberec …
The author of the Grand book about Liberec spoke out quite clearlyin his narration – Liberec will never be pretty. As if the disregard for the existing cultural and historic monuments was encoded in its genes. The construction of new buildings usually doesn’t aim at the completion of the whole bu…
The strange shape of the intersection and the unnatural air of the vast and open space in the center of the city is a hint that there was something big standing at this site. It was here, by the Harcovský Creek, where Johann Liebiegfounded his famous textile factory in the 19th century. It was …
Today, the Czech Community House (Beseda) is an ordinary house standing aside the busyLiberec center. It has long ago lost its historical significance. However, at the time of its establishment, the Czech Community House was the “Czech island in a German sea”. As late as 1910, the Czechs only rep…
The building of the former spa has recently awoken from a long enchanted sleep and was turned into a gallery. Once, the building was a distinctive feat of architecture. In the beginning of the 20th century, indoorswimming pools were not at all common and thus the pool signified the wealth of the…
The end of German Liberec was abrupt. Thousands of Germans had to leave their homes within a few hours. The first phase of the expulsion – the so-called “wild” deportations – took place in the immediate aftermath of World War II, in May and June 1945. The journey of the Germans usually began at t…
He came to Liberec as a child immediately after the end of World War II and describes the enthusiastic but at the same time very wild times of the resettlementof the once wealthy city. The new settlers were a mixture of bold enthusiasts, thieves and robbers and formed the foundation of the new…
The Sudetenland Germans were and still are a part of the city because many of them have retained a relationship to the city and some are even coming back. Isa Engelmann was born before the war in India, where her father represented a chemical plant from Liberec, but spent her childhood in…