Liberec

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Template:Infobox Town Image:Liberec town hall.jpg

Liberec (Template:Audio, German: Reichenberg, Romany: Libertsis) is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Liberec Region. Located on the Lusatian Neisse, it is the capital and largest city of the region.

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, though their jurisdiction over the town has long ceased. The cloth-making industry was introduced in 1579.

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 Severočeske Muzeum (Museum of Northern Bohemia) are of significant note. The neighborhoods on the hills above the town center have a dizzying display of beautiful homes and streets, all laid out in a picturesque Romantic style, typical of central European thermal spas.

During the 1930s the predominantly German city became the centre of the Sudeten German Nazis and, after the Munich Agreement in 1938, the capital of the Sudetengau within Nazi Germany. The city's German population was expelled following World War II through the Beneš decrees and replaced with Czechs. Image:Jested.jpg Liberec shares the tramway line which connects it to its neighboring city, Jablonec nad Nisou. 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, which became a symbol of the city.

Contemporary buildings of note are also to be found, primarily the work of the firm SIAL, and include the new National Science Library (2000) and the Česka Pojištovna office building (1997).

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