Liberec

Sister cities

• Dunkirk
• St. Gallen
• Augsburg
• Zittau
• Kovrov

History

In the 11th or 12th century, a settlement named Habersdorf, which was the predecessor of Liberec, was established on the trade route from Bohemia to Lusatia by Czech settlers and German colonizers. In the 13th century, a second settlement named Reichenberg was established near the first one. The two settlements later merged. The first written mention of Liberec under its German name Reichenberg is from 1352. Starting in 1278, the area was owned by the noble Bieberstein family. Reichenberg suffered from the passing through of troops during the Hussite Wars, then was burned down in 1469 during a battle with the army of King George of Poděbrady. After the Biebersteins died out, the Frýdlant estate, which included Reichenberg, was bought by the Redern family in 1558. The Rederns contributed significantly to the development of the settlement, as they built new buildings, modernized the settlement and laid the foundation of the textile industry. In 1577, Reichenberg was promoted to a town by Emperor Rudolf II. He gave the town the coat of arms it still uses today. After the end of World War I, Austria-Hungary fell apart and the Czechs of Bohemia joined newly established Czechoslovakia on 29 October 1918 whilst the Germans wanted to stay with Austria to form reduced German Austria on 12 November 1918, both citing Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the doctrine of self-determination. Liberec was declared the capital of the German-Austrian province of German Bohemia. Czechs however argued that these lands, though German-settled since the Middle Ages, were historically an integral part of the Duchy and Kingdom of Bohemia. On 16 December 1918, the Czechoslovak Army entered Liberec and the whole province remained part of Bohemia. The Great Depression devastated the economy of…

Geography

Liberec is located about northeast of Prague. Most of the municipal territory lies in the Zittau Basin. In the northeast, the territory extends into the Jizera Mountains and to the eponymous protected landscape area. In the west, the territory extends into the Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge and includes the highest point of Liberec and of the entire Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge, the mountain Ještěd at above sea level. Liberec is situated on the Lusatian Neisse River. The largest body of water is Harcov Reservoir (also called Liberec Dam). The reservoir is located inside the built-up area on the Lusatian Neisse's tributary, the stream of Harcovský potok. Today it serves mainly as a recreational place for the residents of Liberec, but it was originally designed to protect the city from floods and as a water reservoir for industrial use. It is also important as a biotope with the occurrence of protected animals. Liberec has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb; Trewartha: Dcbo). The annual average temperature is , the hottest month in July is , and the coldest month is in January. The annual precipitation is , of which July is the wettest with , while April is the driest with only . The extreme temperature throughout the year ranged from on 11 February 1929 to on 16 July 1928.