Hrádek nad Nisou (; , ) is a town in

Liberec District Liberec District () is a district in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Liberec. Administrative division Liberec District is divided into three administrative districts of municipalities with extended competence: ...

in the

Liberec Region Liberec Region () is an administrative unit (Czech language, Czech: ''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located in the northernmost part of its historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Liberec. The region shares international bor ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It has about 8,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone.

Administrative division

Hrádek nad Nisou consists of nine municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Hrádek nad Nisou (4,365) *Dolní Sedlo (164) *Dolní Suchá (267) *Donín (1,100) *Horní Sedlo (30) *Loučná (993) *Oldřichov na Hranicích (219) *Uhelná (51) *Václavice (422)

Etymology

The oldest forms of the name are Grad, Grat (in modern Czech ''hrad''; meaning 'castle'). The name Hrádek (diminutive of ''hrad'') has been used since the 16th century.

Geography

Hrádek nad Nisou is located about northwest of

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

. It is located on the state border, at the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of the Czech Republic,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The municipal territory lies mostly in the Zittau Basin, but on the south it also extends to the

Lusatian Mountains The Lusatian Mountains (; ; ) are a mountain range of the Western Sudetes on the southeastern border of Germany with the Czech Republic. They are a continuation of the Ore Mountains range west of the Elbe valley. The mountains of the northern, G ...

and

Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge The Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge (; ) is a ridge and geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is part of the Western Sudetes. The vast majority lies in the Liberec Region. Geomorphology Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge is a mesoregion of th ...

. The highest point is the hill Popova skála at above sea level. The

Lusatian Neisse The Lusatian Neisse (; ; ; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe.

River flows through the town.

History

The first written mention of Hrádek nad Nisou is from 1287. During the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

, in 1424, the town was burned down. In 1466, the former church was replaced by a Gothic one. In the second half of the 16th century, there was a great development of the estate. In the 19th century, Hrádek nad Nisou became industrialized. The railway was built in 1859. Engineering, chemical and textile factories were established. From the 19th century until 1972,

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

was mined in the vicinity of the town. The town had a German majority. The Czech school was founded in 1925. From 1938 to 1945 it was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and administered as part of the

Reichsgau Sudetenland The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the ''Sudetenland'' territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. ...

. The German population was expelled after World War II.

Demographics

Economy

The town benefits from its location near Germany and Poland. There is an industrial zone dominated by factories focused on the production of automotive parts. The largest company is Drylock Technologies, a manufacturer of diapers and other hygiene needs.

Transport

Hrádek nad Nisou lies on the railway line heading from

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

and continuing to Varnsdorf or

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Sights

Hrádek nad Nisou has a well preserved town centre with many historic houses. The most valuable building is the Church of Saint Bartholomew. It was built in 1466 on the site of a church from the 13th century. In 1566, it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Its current Baroque appearance is from 1764. The Church of Peace was built in 1900–1901 by the

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

. Today it is used by the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. At Václavice is a Dutch-type windmill. It was built in 1842–1843 and was used until the 1890s. It is a valuable and well-preserved technical monument.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hrádek nad Nisou is twinned with: * Bogatynia, Poland *

Kralupy nad Vltavou Kralupy nad Vltavou (; ) is a town in Mělník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It is known as a traffic hub and industrial agglomeration. Administrative division Kralupy nad Vltavou c ...

, Czech Republic *

, Germany

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hradek nad Nisou Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Liberec District Czech Republic–Poland border crossings Czech Republic–Germany border crossings