Železný Brod

Železný Brod (; german: Eisenbrod) is a town in Jablonec nad Nisou District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Jizera River.

Administrative parts

Villages of Bzí, Chlístov, Horská Kamenice, Hrubá Horka, Jirkov, Malá Horka, Pelechov, Splzov, Střevelná, Těpeře and Veselí are administrative parts of Železný Brod.

History

Železný Brod was founded in the 11th or 12th century as a settlement named as ''Brod'' ("ford") or ''Brodek'' ("little ford"). In the 13th century, King Ottokar II promoted the village to a town. In 1468, the town was burned down, however in 1501, King Vladislaus II restored the town's rights and gave the town its coat of arms. Most likely at the same time ''Železný'' ("iron") was added to its name, alluding to the town's steelworks.

In 1880, the town had 2,698 inhabitants and was the seat of the district court. Its cotton spinning mill was using 50,000 spindles.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the glassmaking industry boomed with the development of glass production and grinding mills. In 1920, the first Czech professional glassmaking school was opened.

Demography

Economy

The town's industry is represented by jewellers, as well as producers of blow-moulded glass, thermometers, and small glass commodities.

Transport

Železný Brod lies on a railway line connecting Pardubice and Liberec.

Sights

The town hall was built in 1890 replacing the earlier wooden hall. The Town Theatre and the Town Gallery of Vlastimil Rada are both located within the town hall building. The town's coat-of-arms is displayed on the ground floor.

Běliště is the location of the ethnographic exposition of the Town Museum, focusing on the history of Železný Brod and its close surroundings. The building is a one-storey partly timbered house that served as a tannery and a dye-house since 1807. The exposition presents archaeological discoveries, photocopy of records, half-precious stones from Kozákov, iron, slate, limestone, fossils and residue of sea, sculpture of sandstone, artwork by Josef Scheybal, old classes and school's aids, gingerbread products and old baker's bread, flax processing tools, weaving room, textiles, printer's forms, some old clothing, wooden nativity scenes, old ski and sleds, models of citizen's houses.

The Town Museum is located on 3. května Square in the former citizens timber house built in 1792 (since 1936, it served as a part of the savings bank building). It holds the exposition of the Železný Brod glass-making: glass-making room from the last century, personages of the local secondary glass school, businessmen and exporters of the 20th and 40th years of the 20th century, unique glass nativity scene.

The old Trávníky district is situated behind the brooks Žernovník and is remarkable for the empire houses Grosovsko and Knopovsko, timbered houses in Zahradnická, Hluboká and Fr. Balatky lanes, and Church of Saint James with wooden belfry.

Notable people

* Pravoslav Rada (1923–2011), artist

Twin towns – sister cities

Železný Brod is twinned with:
* Lauscha, Germany
* Olszyna, Poland

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zelezny Brod
Cities and towns in the Czech Republic
Populated places in Jablonec nad Nisou District