Here I was approached by a young woman with a striking accent, obviously a foreigner, and she said: “Where do you go to this Crystal Valley?” It’s very difficult to explain. CRYSTAL VALLEY is a very large area. It starts near Kamenický Šenov (and could easily be in Chřibská) and continues for another seventy kilometers as the crow flies to Harrachov. So it makes sense that it is not one real valley, but, similar to Silicon Valley in California, an area connected by a phenomenon, in this case glassmaking and glass in general. We can find the most glass and costume jewelry companies in the world here.

It is a chain of glassworks, design studios, museums, galleries, but also glass schools.
All of them operate independently, although some of them only decided to open to the public by joining the Crystal Valley project. Several times a year, a weekend takes place when people can visit places they would not otherwise be able to visit. For example, the private studios of glass artists, often literally in their living rooms. Waiting for such a weekend is a gourmet’s delight.
My Radunka and I manage to visit six destinations in a day – and we live off those experiences for a long time. Well, and if someone wanders into Crystal Valley at another time, there are still plenty of places left with clearly declared opening hours. So accept the scapular insight, a flight through several remarkable places in Crystal Valley. For comprehensive information, including dates of weekend events, visit crystalvalley.cz or www.facebook.com/visitcrystalvalley/. And when you’re on the Crystal Valley website, don’t forget to check out the Stories section. Here you’ll find my stories about the focal points of the glassmaking phenomenon in northern Bohemia.

Let’s start unconventionally – with what is not in Crystal Valley (but should be). Since the project was taken over by the Liberec Region, Crystal Valley has come a long way and great work has been done. However, it does have one disadvantage – the borders of the region have also become the borders of Crystal Valley. And so the oldest continuously operating glass factory in Central Europe, the one in Chřibská (1414), was left out. Well, you might say, but the glass factory was closed in 2007, of course, for economic reasons. So what would we probably see there…

But it is a flash in the pan. Efforts to revive glassmaking in Chřibská are most visibly manifested by the holding of the Glass Festival. There are also rumors about the creation of a museum glassworks in the reconstructed rectory near the church of St. George, and perhaps even that glassworks will not remain completely deserted… Anyway – it is simply impossible to ignore Chřibská in the history of glassmaking in northern Bohemia. (And what’s more – Chřibská is a magical village that is worth walking through and discovering, for example, a cascade of waterfalls, meadows full of orchids, breathtaking folk architecture…) Photo Ivo Šafus

The second missing phenomenon is Šluknov, which was put on the glassmaking map by the unique glass artist JAN FRYDRYCH when he settled here in a beautiful villa called art, which he saved from extinction.

You can find his works in prestigious museum collections around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum, and if you were invited to visit by one of the world’s celebrities – for example, Elton John, Prince Albert of Monaco or the Clintons, you would certainly be proud of Jan Frydrych’s works.

So – enough about what is not in the Crystal Valley, let’s get to the many amazing places that are there. It is not the ambition of this part of the Scapular to cover everything. That would have to be really packed.
Let’s focus on (some) places within reach of Krásná Lípa, or rather Kamenná Horka, or more precisely, the Bohemian Cottage guesthouse. The closest is Kamenický Šenov. Here, the center of our interest would logically be the GLASS MUSEUM, which focuses on engraved and cut glass from the 17th century to the present. However, reconstruction is underway and the reopening of the museum has not yet been specified.

Kamenický Šenov is still a very remarkable town. It is definitely worth visiting the oldest functioning glassmaking school in the world – the SECONDARY SCHOOL OF GLASSWORKING. It was founded in 1856 and still educates glass designers today.

You will succeed here even if the school is not currently involved in any Crystal Valley event. The school gallery, the shop with students’ works are accessible and, by arrangement, it is also possible to visit the school workshops and studios and watch the students at work.

uch sadder, but also extremely interesting, is the walk to Eliáška. Probably the most famous glass entrepreneur here was Eliáš Palme, who made the Kamenickošenov chandeliers famous all over the world. When he died on the last day of 1893, his sons took over the company, who built a beautiful Art Nouveau factory building on Skřivánka in 1905, which is still called Eliáška, but in its time the locals also nicknamed it the Chateau.

And even though it’s now just a wreck, it’s still somehow breathtaking. There’s been talk of saving it for decades. But the ravages of time continue to gnaw away brick by brick.

Still not enough? Then take the Palme Glass Trail. It starts at the Kamenickošenov train station and runs through the entire city.

Kamenický Šenov also includes Prácheň. Here you will pass one of the biggest tourist magnets in the Czech Republic, the legendary Organ, or rather Panská skála, a spectacular proof of columnar basalt separation. Just a few hundred meters further, the attentive wanderer will spot a house with a studio, Studio BYSTRO DESIGN.

The creative duo Dagmar Pánková and Leoš Smejkal are celebrating twenty years of joint work this year. During Crystal Valley events, it is possible to try out the Tiffany technique, glass cutting and, above all, admire selected works. And believe me, that is a great experience.

Here, as elsewhere in the Crystal Valley, the layman (and often the expert) is left speechless by the astonishing combination of talent, creativity, experience, and use of technology.

Some works are downright intimate, so close to the person that they leave with the need to be surrounded by such beauty and to touch it daily.

lthough the Crystal Valley is so vast and long, it is usually no more than a quarter of an hour from one glassmaker to another. You can reach Nový Bor from Práchne even earlier. Right on the edge of the town, on the slope of Borský Hill, stands a monumental art deco villa, home to one of the most important glass artists in the region, the former director of the Kamenickošenov Glass School, whose students today hold the banner of glory for Czech art glass. But he himself still belongs among them. He came up with a unique technique of carving glass with a hammer and chisel.

The resulting works are extremely exclusive and have an extraordinary, unusual effect.

The front side is polished, the back is rough and chiseled. The result is stunning. The light in this colorful fish reveals strange and intoxicating shapes and colors…

This relatively new egg is breathtaking. It’s worth standing all day at this sculpture.
It changes every moment. Vladimír Klein started it, the light finishes it and metamorphoses it.

It is actually a great privilege to be able, as a complete stranger, to walk into an artist’s studio and talk to him about his story, his work, his inspiration. In the case of Vladimír Klein, the conversation is so natural that after a while you feel like you have known each other for years. A wonderful person.

The GLASS MUSEUM is located on the Novo Bor square, in a Baroque house with a mansard roof, which was built in 1804 by a prominent Novo Bor glass merchant. Here you will learn about the stylistic and technological development of glass from northern Bohemia, you will encounter painted, engraved, molded and cut glass, and you will also see exhibits from historical glass workshops.

In addition to modern exhibition spaces, there are also exhibitions located in the natural spaces of the historic house. But you can be sure of one thing right now – glass, especially art glass, looks good everywhere.

Nový Bor is a city of glass, you will feel it on every corner. When you come to the NOVOTNÝ
GLASS area, you will not know what happened before. You can eat here in a restaurant with a comfortable view of the glassworks.

While debouching and drinking, it is possible to watch men with pipes inhaling strange shapes into the glass, exactly according to the wishes of the artists, who have long since become accustomed to being able to trust them, that even what they did not hope was possible can be born here.

On the main street of Novo Bor you will also find a very inconspicuous shop of the group NATĚLO – ŠPERKY.
Here you can buy glass jewelry from four glass artists – ŠÁRKA BARTKO, KAROLÍNA KOPŘIVOVÉ, EVA RANŠOVÉ and BOHDANA VYDROVÉ. They are amazing, original and extremely imaginative.
But where to wear it – you might ask yourself. A small example – my wife loves large jewelry and wears it to work quite regularly. Well, look… (This one is from Bohdana Vydrová.)

And this one from the wonderful Karolína Kopřivová – we even went to Mrs. Kopřivová’s studio to see it. That’s what’s great about Crystal Valley – no one is making fun of you here, the craftsmen are pleased with your interest and are happy to show you what they do.

And this one from the wonderful Karolína Kopřivová – we even went to Mrs. Kopřivová’s studio to see it. That’s what’s great about Crystal Valley – no one is making fun of you here, the craftsmen are pleased with your interest and are happy to show you what they do.

And one more beauty of Novobork you must not miss. The Glass House. It is part of the headquarters of the LASVIT company. It is a unique combination of traditional timbered buildings, in which glassmakers worked already in the Baroque period, and contemporary architecture using the material that this Scapular is all about.

Just to put it mildly, Nový Bor is half an hour by car from Krásná Lípa. And it is exactly the same distance to Kunratice near Cvikova. Here is Pačinkovo. I mean, this is where the PAČINEK GLASS company of the artistic glassmaker JIŘÍ PAČINEK is based. You can go here all year round, tours of the glassworks, glass gardens and church galleries are held regularly. The glassworks also has a large shop where you can buy glass in a really unusual range, and it just depends on your taste. For example, I love Pačinkovo’s sea paperweights.

The Glass Garden surrounding the smelter is also diverse. Despite the immutability of the glass sculptures, it changes from month to month as nature, sun, clouds, rain, etc. coexist with the glass.

Right next to the smelter is the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which has been converted into the Crystal Temple Gallery. I have seen several exhibitions there and it has always been remarkable.

The sacred environment creates an unusual and very captivating platform for glass artifacts

Going to the area of ​​Sloup in Bohemia and neighboring Svojkov is a good idea anyway. Whoever hasn’t seen and experienced this hasn’t been to the Lusatian Mountains. Amazing places: rock towns and castles, the mysterious Prayer Mine, the lookout tower, the wonderful Na Stráži restaurant, the castle ruins, incredible views – but more about that in one of the next Škapulířy. We are still within a quarter of an hour of Krásná Lípa. At the end of Svojkov, another gem of the Crystal Valley awaits us – the HAIDL A SYN Glassworks. Glassmaking has been carried out in family clans since time immemorial, fragile beauty was created by glassmaking families. Today, it is no longer so obvious – getting descendants to catch fire for the passion of their ancestors is not so easy. But it works perfectly here.

Father and son Haidl focus primarily on replicas of medieval glass, and they also collaborate a lot with filmmakers. One by one, glowing glass tears flow down the glass, becoming typical “growths” of medieval cups. What were they for? Perhaps so that the glasses would be easier to hold with greasy hands and not slip, perhaps so that the decorative elements would cover the imperfections of the glass. Glowing glass in its liquid state is an unimaginably beautiful material.

Here too, the glassworks has a small shop. If you come here on a weekday morning, they will welcome you and let you watch their work. And it is quite easy to choose from the glassworks’ range.

You can also easily get to Lindava, where you can find one of the most famous and most visited glassworks – AJETO. Here too, you don’t have to wait for the Crystal Valley event, they are ready to show you around the glassworks itself – during the glassmakers’ working hours.

If you have more time, you can go to the Szklarská pub opposite…

…where you can try out your hand at blowing, do some beadwork, satisfy your hunger and thirst,
sit…

…and then head to a garden full of water, glass, free-running nutria, peace and natural beauty.

The charming village of Slunečná is only a few kilometers away. It is a somewhat secret place, a narrow road leads here, which at times may feel like it will probably lead you nowhere. And then you are suddenly in a magical nest surrounded by the last spur of the Bohemian Central Mountains and the undulating foothills of the Lusatian Mountains. There stands a house full of love and glass.

You can only really get here during Crystal Valley events – unless you have a special interest and request a visit from a remarkable creator who lives and works here. RICARDO HOINEFF is a Brazilian who, enchanted by Bohemian glass, settled far from Copa Cabana beach and became one of the indispensable members of the local glassmaking community.

Ricardo’s massive sculptures amaze, captivate, and enchant.

For example, this dragon head is simply breathtaking.

This does not mean, however, that Ricardo cannot work with smaller formats. Here he was able to materialize the heart of glass, which became fatal to his life, in a completely original way.

This does not mean, however, that Ricardo cannot work with smaller formats. Here he was able to materialize the heart of glass, which became fatal to his life, in a completely original way.

We will end our journey through the easily accessible places of the Crystal Valley in Jezvá, a village near Horní Police or Žandov. Be careful – this does not mean that there are no more glass-making sights in the area – this Scapular would just be unbearably long. So let’s go to the ZLATOHLÁVKOVÝCH family glass factory, which you will find (anywhere in the world) like EVPAS GLASS.

This is something else entirely – utility glass in every conceivable form, because, as the owners told us, they sell all over the world and every country has different tastes, different drinking habits, different obsessions with design.

And so you will find almost everything here – from classic and inherited designs to new decors to unexpected and completely original patterns.

At the Crystal Valley events, workshops are opened here, in which visitors try out glass drawing, grinding and other techniques. For some, it is their first experience with glass, while others welcome the opportunity to create something that may one day be their profession or calling. For example, this student from the Kamenickošenov Glass School… But we know her well! You can easily meet her at Bohemian Cottage, she belongs here. Ema Kubicová.

There is someone to copy from, local master painters and engravers are happy to advise, demonstrate, inspire…
The Covid shadow is gone. Glassmakers are no longer in despair, no longer crying, they are laughing again. And that laughter echoes
from Chřibská to Harrachov.

If you are captivated by the Crystal Valley, you will not know when to stop your fragile journey. The possibilities are endless – just click on the website www.crystalvalley.cz – and you will have goals for several years. For example, the glass ladder in the tower of the Liberec Museum, or the UNESCO pearl in Poniklá, the Jablonec Museum of Glass and Costume Jewelry, the entire Železný Brod area, the Harrachov glassworks of the Novosad family… Enough, or I will start posting more photos again. Have a happy crystal journey!

Author: Rostislav Křivánek

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Czech Switzerland is called the New Zealand of Europe. That’s right – you’ll find almost everything from natural beauty to everything in such a small space that it takes your breath away. And yet this area lacks something – a spa. But, is it quite true? In this Scapular, we will follow in the footsteps of spas and health care in the region. It will be a varied and often surprising journey. After all, let’s start with the fact that if any area in the Czech Republic is suitable to be designated as a climatic spa, then the mentioned region certainly is. The remarkable mixing of air currents, which is intensified by thermals around the table mountains, can blow air from as far as the North Sea into the rocks here. The bottoms of ravines and gorges in turn exhale icy and humid air, with a little exaggeration – almost arctic. The air here heals, there can be no doubt about that. The area around the table mountain Děčínský sněžník is even called a “wind spa”. In addition, those who manage to take advantage of the days when crowds of tourists do not flock to the magnets of the local landscape, or who are able to bypass the over-the-top places and go to areas that are not mentioned in every guidebook, are rewarded with a peace that can be cut and a silence that seems to come here blown from the past. For example, people from Doubice fondly claim that their village is a “brain spa”. So come and look into the history of the journey to human health here.

Well – and then there were no spas in Bohemian Switzerland! They were. Count Jan Josef Thun-Hohenstein, under the impression of strong experiences from Karlovy Vary, very much wanted to have a healing spring on his estate and to build a spa. He lived to see it in 1768, when his gamekeeper discovered a spring of ferruginous water in Horní Žleb. The analysis showed that it is a very beneficial, even healing water, suitable for baths and helping to treat constipation, flatulence, golden veins, menstrual problems and even mental retardation…

A year later, the first temporary house appeared near the spring, and the spa was opened in 1777 in a new brick building. In front of the building stood a fountain with a statue of Neptune, which is still deposited in the Děčín museum. The spa happily prospered, even so much so that the next owner of the Děčín castle, František Antonín Thun, decided to expand and rebuild it. Horní Žleb grew – there were new inns, boarding houses, hotels, private villas, steamships landed here, František Palacký and Crown Prince Rudolf and Princess Stefania were treated here…

The development of the railway and catenary steamships brought excessive noise and paradoxically meant the decline of the spa, so the Thunes sold it in 1906, only for the spa to close completely in 1922. This is what the former spa building looks like today. So the end of the only spa in Czech Switzerland?

Yes, but it didn’t have to be. Another spa project matured in the unusually active and creative head of Prince Edmund Clary-Aldringen, owner of the Bynovec estate, which also included the rocky area between Hřensk and Vysoká Lípa. In 1892, he started building a spa hotel in a secluded area called Mezní louka, where until then there was only a forest house and a small boarding house. Climatic and hydrotherapy baths – that was the intention. The building was – and is – sumptuous, in the Alpine style, but the attempt to use the local springs did not lead to success, so the spa was rebuilt into a sumptuous hotel with rooms, salons, a library, a reading room and a smoking room. At least the salt baths that were available to guests remained of the spa idea.

The interest was huge, the princely family, their friends and the richest clientele who came to admire the wonder of the world, Pravčická brana, stayed there. In the same year, Edmund also had the path around the foot of the rock walls leading under Pravčická brána modified (it had already been laid out and built around 1880) and he named it after his sister Leontina Gabriele – Gabriela’s path. As can be seen from the picture, the hotel hasn’t changed that much in more than a hundred years. So from the outside…

Let’s continue to the Czech Netherlands, because a spa project was created here as well. Within sight of Šluknov, in a charming valley sloping down to an unnamed stream, during the construction of the railway between Šluknov and Rumburk, wooden quarters for Italian workers grew. When the workers had left, one morning a respected citizen of Šlukno, the baker Karl Schütz, was walking by. He got an idea. And he was willing to invest in it. It was so beautiful here. And the peace. And the air!

As early as 1887, the “Blue Ball” inn grew up under the care of Mr. Schutz, and when it became clear that the people of Šluknov liked to direct their Sunday steps here, more and more buildings began to be added. Artificial ponds, a Chinese pavilion, gazebos, promenades, terraces with sunbeds, even a forest theater. The popularity of the place grew, soon it was discovered by people from more distant places, who found it worth going to the resort, which was increasingly talked about.

The place got its name somehow by itself – it was simply Karlthal, Karl’s Valley, because it really belonged to Karl, and he was the one who was able to transform the forest wasteland into a magical place full of light and joy. In 1912, a major turning point occurred – the town of Šluknov bought the place and started investing. Two years later, a spa hotel was inaugurated here and the place was declared an airy, today we would say climatic, spa. Richer clientele from Germany, but also from more distant places, started coming here. Karlova údolí was simply in vogue, which did not abate throughout the twenties and thirties.

Not even the Second World War took away its popularity, it just turned into a recreation and treatment center for the German army. After the war, Karlovo údolí was used by the Transport Company of the Capital City of Prague, which began to use the area as a recreation center for its employees. Since then it has been called – at the Castle. The fifties were beginning.

The castle had thirty rooms, a dining room, a theater hall and later even a wine bar. In the early years, a park with a gazebo still functioned, boats plied the lake, and volunteers from Šluknov played in the forest theater on Sundays. However, the transport company, in the spirit of the national crisis, only used the site. He didn’t repair, he didn’t invest. When it falls, we will go elsewhere, was the philosophy of the time.

Only in 1990 did repairs begin, but part of the “castle” collapsed, so after four years the work stopped and was never resumed. Since then, both the building and the park had fallen into a pensive state of disrepair, the roofs were falling in, and it seemed that the forest would soon take back what had once belonged to it.

The former glory has withered, few people wandered here anymore – and when they did, he was in tears. Until two dreamers appeared.

Martin and Ema Bilinski. In 2016, they bought the Charles Valley and some sage waved their hands over them or slapped their hands.

New owners, although they are no zobanci, apparently want to return Charles Valley at least dignity. And so the area was cleaned, air raids and all sorts of elent were taken and the building got its space again. And suddenly it’s a much more positive spectacle than a few years ago. A bit…

The work has been done a lot in recent times. With the knowledge that all of this are all two people with the help of friends, occasional voluntary temporary workers and participants in benefit events – it is breathtaking. It was beginning to convert the jungle into an area with which something could be done. Then the cultivation of the former park in front of the hotel started.

A copy of the original gazebo became the centerpiece and the symbol of the reventers of Charles Valley.

That’s how he looked once…

… And now. Is beautiful. The tiny thresholds set in the spirit of the original form on both sides began to take strength. Once in front of their high bodies, white benches will be standing – even the biggest mischief will be believed today.

And maybe a meadow will come to life in sight of the hotel…
​

… And maybe we will have a beer and a good lunch once again…

… And we will ride on the boats. There is no choice but to hope and keep your fingers crossed. And even here and there to put your hand to the work on occasional brigades.

In our wandering over time and finding traces of efforts to improve the health and mental condition of people, we have reached Jetrichovice, where still uninformed visitors are amazed by the building of the chateau proportions and a bit of appearance. Abandoned children’s sanatorium.

In the 1920s, trying to build a recovery in northern Bohemia, which would to some extent demonstrate the viability and social empathy of the young republic, a generous facility similar to those that were scattered in climatic fabric places throughout Europe. It has been looking for a long time, but when the commission in the summer of 1924 came to a tour of the Jetrichovice meadows under the raven rock, perfectly covered from the north by the massif of the Jetrichovice views, from the south open to the sun, surrounded by rocks and forests – it was decided.

A year later, an architectural competition was announced, which did not go well. None of the nineteen proposals fit the purpose – childcare. The impasse was solved by a practitioner – construction manager Ludwig Parche, who sat down and created a project that seemed ideal. Construction began. The construction costs rose to 2,700,000 crowns, and the total cost of the rehabilitation center was 10 million Czech crowns. And so on Saturday, September 3, 1927 (less than two years after the start of construction!) the convalescent home could be ceremonially opened.

The fact that the President of the Republic, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, cut the ribbon also testified to the importance of the object and its use. The chronicler of Srbokamenick, in an elevated language, recorded in the municipal annals the fact that “never before has such a crowd of visitors flowed, and even Jetřichovice has never experienced such a large influx of foreigners.”

The building, which had a really castle-like, massive impression, was very rationally and actually simply structured. On the ground floor, a generous games room and dining room. Upstairs there are laundry rooms, dressing rooms, washrooms, toilets and, above all, bedrooms for one hundred and fifty children. In the attic, there is a warehouse, apartments for teachers, isolation rooms and rooms for the mildly ill, apartments for employees with accessories. And by the way – there was – and is – a swimming pool in the basement, and another one outside.

Over the years, since the sanatorium was closed and offered for sale only in 2005, thousands of children have taken turns here on healing and relaxation stays. For fifteen long years, however, the building gradually fell into disrepair. The business plans did not succeed, and the idea of many locals that with the help of the state the building could be returned to its original purpose and that it would in turn serve children or perhaps the elderly, despite the efforts of some particularly devoted personalities (I would like to name professor Stanislav Tůma, M.D., and his the wonderful woman Jitka Tůmová), also failed to finish.

What does it look like today? In some places, actually better than one would expect. (Thank you for the photos to Vít and Monika Míková.)

But most of the time is the tooth of time – and probably even non -people – to see better than one nice. (Thank you for the photos to Vít and Monika Míková.)

When the fate of the recovery seemed to be similar to the fate of many interesting industrial, sacral and profane buildings in the region, an investor appeared in the area and operates several accommodation and restaurants. He came up with the idea of commercial use.

Within five years, the building of the former sanatorium should be reconstructed, and with an emphasis on its historical value. Next to it, a modern building will grow and the whole area turns into a hotel. A ground -floor restaurant will be built in front of the sanatorium. It should open up on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the building. By the way, September 3, 2027 is based on Friday. So that’s the plan.

Hope is aroused by a team of architects, because the Hoffman studio has significant and remarkable and award -winning projects – such as Poštovna Anežka in Sněžka, but also a major implementation on the border of Czech Switzerland and the Czech Netherlands – Aparthotel Lípa and the Falkenstein brewery in Krásha Lípa.

We all have different aesthetic feeling, we all have different ideas about the use of historical buildings, especially those built with the social aspect. But the time is what it is, and whatever opinions we are, we probably agree that the rescue of a remarkable building is definitely good news.

We are at the end of the pilgrimage of history, present and hopefully the future of buildings that have to do with human health. We deserve rest. Let us return to where we went from crystalline peace, beauty and purity. Bohemian Cottage is also a kind of recovery or recovery, both body and soul. So let’s drop the steam and let us pamper.

Whirlpool. The vibrating water hugs the body and drives fatigue. Day and night. It’s relief, it’s cleansing… We’re nice.

It would still want to warm up the body, fill it with the heat that lasts… The sauna is ready.

Yoga. Four letters for the body, soul, balance, reconciliation with the world. Injection of positivity. The way to how to love your body. Let’s go…

Jezírko. Motýli a vážky. Spočinutí v chladivé vodě. A sluneční koupel. Klid…

In the summer into the water, in winter from the water – yes, here it is possible.

It is evening, the cold clutches the landscape. Steam rises from the hot water barrel. The noisles of the season are just dominating, the barrel attracts like a magnet. So let’s and plunge up to the neck. A glass in your hand and we can talk. For example, how people have been trying to take care of their physical and mental health for centuries. And what we have experienced on the pilgrimage for the monuments of this effort today. Or what else will be about the eighth roar…

Written by Rostislav Křivánek

Other articles from Škapulíř can also be found on our blog.

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Let’s start with the tower of the church of St.. Mary Magdalene. It is only open to death, mostly about some bigger events. I was lucky at the rock beer festival Krásnolipská nádhera, which is organized by the Falkenstein brewery every August. Brewery, these are the two embracing buildings below us – the one with the red roof and the one with the gray one, which, however, some time ago turned bright white – but later. Now let’s enjoy the view from above of Křinické náměstí.

Křinické is not called in vain, the river Křinice flows through it, which springs quite close – and in Škapulír we will certainly get to its sources. The painter from Krasnolip, August Frind, painted the square at the time (the year was written 1909), when the Křinice riverbed was covered for nineteen years – and the river still murmurs below the surface – however, he materialized his memories of the bridged stream and the four statues guarding the footbridge.

The baroque church of St.. Mary Magdalene, respectively its tower visible from afar. This place has long been sacred. Since 14. century there was a church, which then in baroque, as was usual at the time, demolished and built a new one.

The interior is beautiful, especially the slightly arched emporiums catch the eye at first glance. In addition, the local organ is again a concert instrument after reconstruction, wonderful events take place here in the summer, which are worth seeing and especially hearing.

Well, just look at them – they are not beautiful? And not at all, the whole church?

Waiting for the opportunity to climb the tower is really worth it. I always feel like Foglar ‘s Jan Tleskač fleeing the mysterious M.

Especially, when I can look at the gigantic ground, which stretches over the whole nave and over the presbytery. Stunning space.

At the Magdalen bells, I feel like in the freezing detective story of Ernst Hall, a native of Chomutov. (despite the ruthless tooth of time, is celebrating its 100th birthday this year) Death bells. Idea, that they suddenly start moving, it always scares me reliably. You can hear the sound of these bells all over the city every quarter, and it’s a comforting sound, ancient and beautiful. Only here did I realize, how the bells disappear from our lives, as well as street clocks. You noticed that? Like we want to laugh at time. We pretend like little kids, that if we ignore his messengers, time will stop and we will be immortal.

But the outlook is worth any literary reminiscence. This is the southeastern part of the square, which is today – with one exception, the pride of the city. About the exception, from here mercifully hidden behind a beautiful linden tree , there will be more talk.

The southwestern part of the square, for example, is dominated by two new buildings, which they certainly do not disgrace. The green building is the seat of the non-profit company Bohemian Switzerland, which on the ground floor and basement hides a remarkable interactive exhibition of the cultural landscape of the land of rocks and gorges and a well-equipped Information Center. The corner building is a complex of Aparthotel Lípa, which does not deny its creators with typical features, namely the Hoffman studio. If it reminds you of the new post office in Sněžka, then rightly – it is from the same authors. Across the street is a house full of sweet secrets. The wonderful Mana chocolate factory is located here, social enterprise. Don’t have hot chocolate and taste the local pralines or even hear the temptation of the local chocolate creative workshop and not try the shaping of chocolate, that is a sin, who is not forgiven at the Last Judgment.

However, Křinice and the bridge over it did not completely disappear, only their form and function changed. The city addressed the Kadan sculptor Herbert Kizs, to depict the ancient dominants of the square in his own style. Managed. The riverbed is stone, as well as the stylization of the water itself and the footbridge, the sculptures of the saints are lined with sculptures of the four elements. And if you look at the photo carefully, you will discover the Falkenstein brewery in its already finished form, thus also with the white and white house hiding the brewery’s production premises. You will find yourself in the next “pub” very decently. And the local beer? Good. Dot. Year, it is the Falkenstein slogan, but it is also true. He lives here all year round, because Krásná Lípa has not been a sleepy nest for a long time. Throughout the season, however, the brewery restaurant expands into the square, so if not inside, you will probably sit outside.

The square is really worth a thorough walk. And pay attention to details. For example, beautiful stone linings of house doors…

… Or this unrivaled cutest house on the square. It’s a bit like dolls, and older individuals probably can’t mess with it.

Another handsome man. And fragrant again! Sem, to Chodská pekárna U Šedými, you will be reliably drawn by the smell of fresh pastries – salty and sweet delicacies, of which the medal would deserve especially the naughty good lard cakes.

Do not miss the memorial plaque on the north side of the square. She pays tribute to the amazing technical visionary here, Albin Hugo Liebisch, creators of the most beautiful motorcycles in the world.

Every year every year, always at the very end of August, The meeting of the owners of Liebisch motorcycles Čechia-Bohmerland will take place on the square. There are dozens of them here and then, what the enchanted snowshoes will see to the fullest, sets off on a fun ride around. Something unique!

Every year every year, always at the very end of August, The meeting of the owners of Liebisch motorcycles Čechia-Bohmerland will take place on the square. There are dozens of them here and then, what the enchanted snowshoes will see to the fullest, sets off on a fun ride around. Something unique!

We will end the puffing around the square with another treat, this time in Café U Frinda. This is because Křinické náměstí is seriously edible. Ice cream will not disappoint you, nor soup menu. And they can make very good coffee. But the house itself is also interesting. It’s called U Frinda, but it has nothing to do with the painter August Frind. The oldest preserved house in the city, built in 1729 – belonged to the Zillich family for more than a hundred years, important and respected doctors. It is unknown, what the Zillichs had in the yard, and many do not know either, what is there today. So let’s take a look…

And let’s see – a pleasant garden! There is usually peace despite the nearby road leading from the square. Such a cafe oasis in the middle of the city.

Speaking of cafes, let’s visit the other two, which are in the immediate vicinity of the square. The Nostalgie Café is quietly in front of a really beautiful half-timbered house.

The beautifully archaic interior does not suffer from butcher’s syndrome, it’s not overpriced. And the painted ceiling excites at first good. The assortment of classic desserts is complemented by homemade profiteroles and wonderful apples in a bathrobe. Edith Piaf often takes care of the atmosphere here. Idyll and peace.

Atelier Krásná Lípa Café is completely different. It is located in the house just behind the Falkenstein brewery.

The character of the cafe is far more urban, subscribing to the trends of the spirit of Karlín and other Prague cafes. A big plus is the inspiring wine shop (they even have Georgian wines here, which you don’t meet so often). The coffee is made from freshly roasted beans from a local roastery and is really good.

The owners Jitka and Miloš Kubišt are also musical people, you will often come across paintings and graphics here in the shop window and indoors, whose authors are. Everything is calm here, neocase juice, for the pleasure of locals and guests.

Our next goal will be beautiful villas and houses in Lipno. Remarkable are blessed here. Their queen, neo-renaissance Hielle’s villa, you already know from Scapular, you could even look inside, so I will not get tired of repeating what has already been said. However: it’s a gem.

From Škapulíř you also know a dignified villa rising nearby, which Carl Dittrich had built in 1912 in memory of his mother – by the way, it was built in just three years. The original purpose was the Youth House, but during the war there was a hospital and shortly after the establishment of the republic there was an orphanage. After the Second World War, a children’s sanatorium was established here, and since the beginning of the third millennium, the Administration of the Czech Switzerland National Park has been at home here.. These are austere facts. But the house is, addition, above all beautiful.

Krasna Lipa, similar to other nearby cities in the Czech Netherlands, is full of exhibition villas, which you in the second half 19. and in the first decades 20. century was built mainly by owners of textiles and other factories. For example, this magnificent historicist Kessner’s villa is from 1866. Its current owners call it Romantic Chateau, they run a hotel here and, in a rather Barnum style, call it “one of the most beautiful castles and chateaux in the Czech Republic”. No, so it certainly isn’t, but it is undoubtedly a remarkable example of the taste of the time.

Only the monogram E.K refers to the original owner. executed decoratively in wrought iron grilles.

The beautiful Villa Römisch is only a few tens of meters away. This house, nicely dressed in a suction cup, it has a special feature – if you look at it for a while, you feel, that this is where you could live.

In the end, I kept the most famous villas after the observation of the villas from Krasnolip. Palm’s villa. It is probably the largest functionalist villa in the Czech Republic and was built by the textile entrepreneur Josef Franz Palme in 1926 according to the plans of the renowned Dresden architect Hans Richter. Today, the Home with a special regime is located here. Beautiful building – with a picturesque history.

When Josef Franz Palme and his brother-in-law Adolf Schindler finished the factory, Josef decided, that he will have a magnificent historic villa built on the slope above the factory. In 1911 was completed and Palme’s family moved in enthusiastically.

But then Palme discovered an amazing architect, Hans Richter of Dresden, a native of nearby Königswalde, today the Kingdom. His functionalist thinking completely enchanted him and he entrusted him not only with the construction of a new knitting mill, but also their new villas. He had the exhibition villa demolished to its foundations after only sixteen years, and Richter built a functionalist gem at his disposal., which was completed a little earlier, than the revolutionary building of Schindler’s Knitwear, an industrial monument comparable in value to the Prague Trade Fair Palace.

And now one story from a drawer of sad paradoxes. The sublime and ornate Deutsches Haus, former hotel, cultural hall and social center of the city built in 1884, you can still see it on Křinické náměstí. But… (For better orientation, If we go inside, where the fountain with the statue used to stand, linden is growing today.) During the time of real socialism, the building was slightly modified, to match the current. How did it end up?

Terribly. One does not even want to believe, that under that monstrous façade, the former beautiful neo-renaissance building is really suffocating. The only encouragement is, that this is the last stain on the face of a really beautiful and hospitable square.

Krásná Lípa is simply full of remarkable houses. In particular, one species dominates. Pedestals, pedestals, pedestals – the treasure of this region shines here as well. This, for example, is an example of an absolutely fundamental type of pedestal combined with a half-timbered floor(with already finished ground floor) in a very bloated design – there are not that many massive half-timbered houses.

This pedestal is again remarkable with a mansard roof, which hides the attic resting its weight on the base structure, which many mistake only for decoration. Construction gimmicks aside – for these houses (and that there are them in Krásná Lípa!) it’s a pleasure to look at! They create a characteristic color of the whole region.

From the number of crosses in the city, I chose the one standing at Kyjovská Street. It is Kögler’s cross. (I have to note, that Kögler was a very common name in this area, so please, not to be confused with another cross of the same name, which you already know from Scapular.) This one was set up by the farmer Gottfried Kögler. However, the cross looked completely different – was iron, decorated with metal silhouettes. (By the way, I eagerly recommend to read Natalie Belisová’s excellent book Journey through the Spiritual Estate of Krásnolipsko.) You can find it at Römisch’s villa.

As we roam the city, we can’t miss one of the most beautiful animal sculptures, as far as I know. It is a real pride of Krásná Lípa. A metal statue awaits us in sight of the city park with immense patience. It is actually a monument to the fallen in the Prussian-Austrian war, whose names on the bronze plaques used to be placed on a granite plinth. He was discovered in 1908 on the occasion 60. anniversary of the reign of Francis Joseph I. and as a celebration of fifty years of activity of the Association of Veterans in Krásná Lípa. You can often come across a description, So the Lobendav builds a pillar for her here “Czech lion tears a Prussian eagle to pieces”. I would be more careful, I don’t think anything is torn to pieces, it just expresses dominance, very dignified as a beast over prey. And the author of this beauty? Dresden sculptor Moritz Clemens Grundig.

Grundig was no hello, he was a highly sought-after Dresden sculptor, which, by the way, created a very similar lion monument in Grumbach, Saxony . Here you can see his ornaments and sculptures at Dresden’s Wettin Obelisk. You won’t see him today, In 1942 as part of the German people’s campaign for metal donations to the Führer, all metal elements were, hence the ornaments and statues, dismantled and turned into cannons.

I dedicated the entire fifth Scapular to the world-unique Dittrich tomb with a heating plant, so perhaps only its current state after the basic rehabilitation. The tomb is waiting now, when the town of Krásná Lípa manages to solve new administrative entanglements and will be able to take over and invent the building, how to save her.

The city park actually begins with the tomb. He is beautiful. And the tourist’s foot rarely gets lost here, not even the locals come here that much, how much this colorful oasis deserved. And so there is peace, silence, regular bird concerts, in May, flower explosions of woodpeckers and azaleas, stream, pond… Here – but actually everywhere else in the city – is greatly appreciated, that the longtime mayor of the city is the original profession (and souls forever) gardener.

And if we’re at the park, we are only a few steps to a large city pond called Cimrák. It’s relieving
ride on it in a boat, Alternatively take the small sandy beach.

Before the war, the city council sat and negotiated in the building on the square, later, the deputies moved to the former city savings bank. She lost her sculptural decoration, but it is still a beautiful historic house.

Neo-Renaissance building with Art Nouveau elements completed in 1900 – Here with a complete angelic suite on the front of the turret.

And one more building is worth stepping out of the square. Today it is a retirement home, but it used to be Empress Elizabeth’s Hospital. Her appearance has not changed that much, at first glance, only a slightly soulless square replacement of the original decorative entrance is visible…

which is clearly visible in the beautiful historical picture. For the hospital (as well as for many other benefits) Krásná Lípa owes the Dittrich family. Carl Dittrich and his sisters and mother Teresa donated the land for the construction and contributed a substantial amount of fifty thousand gold. Carl then took care of the interior equipment. The Boromejka sisters took care of the operation of the hospital with forty beds.

Let’s take a look at some buildings and places, which do not allow an observant pedestrian to sleep. What could be so wasted was this? If you are guessing a historic fire hose dryer, reward yourself, you won. It is even protected as a monument! However, he is also the proud fire brigade of Krásnolip in the year 1864.

Not even a really generous space above the road to Krásný Buk will come out of your head. Solid stone walls suggest, that something big and fundamental was happening here. And it also does – Villa Hirsch, that is, the Deer.

It has been built several times by Dittrich, family of textile businessmen and patrons of the city. It was a multi-purpose house, in which lived a fairly large family, but there were also Hielle offices&Dittrich. (By the way, son of the company’s founder, Carl Dittrich, he had a villa near Dresden called Weißer Hirsch (White deer), so it seems, that the Dittrichs were really dropped out of college.) It is a sovereign pity, that the villa is no longer standing, could be another gem of the city.

I know, it’s not fair, showing you something, what is gone… But I know from personal experience, how such an abandoned chimney haunts a person in the head. Where did he come from?? What he served…

Especially, when in the immediate vicinity is a remarkable villa, which you can read about, that it is Jäger’s villa. Water flowing from a well in the area opposite the villa (here again used to be a cruise restaurant Green Thursday) it is delicious and people come here for it from afar. Just on the sidelines, the beautiful stone tank also has its own, comes from 1823… So there was a factory, or not?

Of course, that she was. This is the chimney and the villa, which quietly decays neglected by the owner, who is said to live somewhere in the USA, they make sense, So the Lobendav builds a pillar for her here? Since year 1893 the famous knitting mill of Gustav Jäger used to stand here, in which seamless women’s stockings were made, men’s socks, Children’s tights, jackets, nightgowns and yes – and familiar underpants, so. jägrovky. She used to have her own steam engine. After the war, the family was expelled and the factory buildings fell into disrepair. They were torn down around the year 2000. All that was left was a chimney. You were interested? I just think, that it is good to be part of the collective awareness of things – across time. Because even that is beautiful, Design matters, what preceded us.

The last house, to which I will point out, de facto no longer in Krásná Lípa (as well as Jäger’s villa). But the formerly important Buk Buk has long been a part of it. But the villa is so beautiful and picturesque, that don’t invite you, to check it out, it would be a mistake, which you could rightly blame me. That’s how the owner of a saw once, pan Alfred Hieke, that he will have an office building built, to have his subordinates where to serve. When it was done, the sawmill’s wife intervened, which vigorously declared the house a family home, and so the offices became flats. The post-war development was not very favorable for this jewel of folk architecture, seek women behind everything. From Beautiful Beech, specifically from Jäger’s villa, you have it following the blue tourist sign to Bohemian Cottage 1300 m. You enjoyed the walk?

So we are closing the eighth Scapular, who wanted to prevent the saying “There is darkness under the candlestick”. Krásná Lípa is in sight from Bohemian Cottage. It would be sad, not knowing such an interesting city, when a person has a quarter of an hour’s walk from the lair. Rosťa Křivánek greets you all.

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