Nové Město pod Smrkem (; ) 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 3,700 inhabitants.

Administrative division

Nové Město pod Smrkem consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Nové Město pod Smrkem (3,122) *Hajniště (203) *Ludvíkov pod Smrkem (171)

Etymology

The name literally means 'new town under

Smrk Smrk may refer to: * Smrk (Jizera Mountains) Smrk (; ) is the highest mountain in the Czech Republic, Czech part of the Jizera Mountains. Rising , it is sometimes known as "The King of the Jizera Mountains". Geography The top of the mountain ...

' in Czech.

Geography

Nové Město pod Smrkem is located about northeast 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 ...

, on the border with

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 northern part of the municipal territory lies in the

Frýdlant Hills Frýdlant (, also known as Frýdlant v Čechách; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. ...

, the southern part extends into the

Jizera Mountains Jizera Mountains (), or Izera Mountains (; ), are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera (river), Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of the Smrk (Jizera), ...

. The highest point is a contour line below the top of

at above sea level. The built-up area is situated in the valley of the Lomnice Stream.

History

Nové Město pod Smrkem was founded in 1584 by Melchior of Redern and called Nové České Město (, literally "New

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n Town"). There were discovered

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

and

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

veins. In 1592 it received town privileges. From 1901, the town has its current name. Since 1945, only the Czech name is used. In 1938, the town 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 a 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. ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the German-speaking population was expelled.

Demographics

Transport

Nové Město pod Smrkem is the final station of a railway line from Liberec.

Sights

The Church of Saint Catherine was founded in 1607 and the tower was added in 1697. The nave was rebuilt to its present form in 1821–1829. The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is located in Ludvíkov pod Smrkem. It dates from the second half of the 13th century and belongs to the best-preserved building in the region from this period. Modifications were made in the 16th and 18th centuries.

Notable people

* Vincenz Hasak (1812–1889), German Catholic historian *

Alfred Baeumler Albin Alfred Baeumler (sometimes Bäumler; ; 19 November 1887 – 19 March 1968), was an Austrian-born German philosopher, pedagogue and prominent Nazi ideologue. From 1924 he taught at the Technische Universität Dresden, at first as an unsalari ...

(1887–1968), German philosopher

Twin towns – sister cities

Nové Město pod Smrkem is twinned with: *

Leśna Leśna () is a town in Lubań County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, close to the Czech border. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Leśna. As of 2019, the town has a population of 4,439. Ge ...

, Poland *

Mirsk Mirsk is a town in Lwówek Śląski County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Mirsk, close to the Czech border. It is situated on the upper Kwisa river north of ...

, Poland *

Świeradów-Zdrój Świeradów-Zdrój (; ) is a spa town in Lubań County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland near the border with the Czech Republic. The town is located in the Kwisa valley of the Jizera Mountains, a part of the Sudetes range. It ...

, Poland

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nove Mesto pod Smrkem Cities and towns in the Czech Republic