Liberec
The manchester of czech Republic
Liberec is a cosy city with many beautiful villas, a grand theatre and a good museum. In the 19th century dutch people settled here and started producing cloth, hence the name
F. X. Šalda Theatre
The theater, which until 1945 only had a German-language ensemble was known Reichenberger Stadttheater. It was built in 1885 after the on April 24, 1879 burned clothier Theater. The project was planned by the theater Viennese Fellner & Helmer. The foundation stone was laid in September 1881 on Gründel place. The theater was built in style of the Reichenberger Neo-Renaissance. Employees were numerous Viennese artists such as the sculptor Bendel and Reinhold Völkel, as well as the painter H. Löffler. Many statues and ornaments were made of Pirna sandstone. The decorations were from Viennese court painters. The large curtain is an early work by Gustav Klimt. The interior of the theater was carried out through the theater inspector of the Burgtheater in Vienna C. Barrot. In September 1883, the theater was opened with Schiller's Wilhelm Tell. Both in the period before the First World War, when Reichenberg belonged to the Habsburg Bohemia, as well as in the interwar period in Czechoslovakia presented the Reichenberger Stadttheater often the start of many singers and actors for their careers. From 1923 operas were performed in Czech. While in the period occurred until WWII guest performances of the Olomouc theater company with operas and operettas, the first performance in October 1945 by Bedrich Smetana was listed under the Czech leadership of Jaromír Žid. In 1957 the theater was named after the writer František Xaver Šalda.
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Liberec Town Hall
Liberec town hall is a Neo-Renaissance building, which was built from 1888 till 1893 by design of the Viennese architect, Franz Neumann, replacing earlier structures dating to 1602. The building has a richly decorated façade, integrated artwork, and very rare stained glass windows. Above the entrance portal is a sculptural relief by Viennese sculptor Theodor Friedl, showing the establishment of the old and new town hall. At its center is a female figure symbolizing the city; on the left side, figures associated with the original town hall, and figures associated with the emergence of a new town hall on the right, including the architect Neumann. The front of the building is a bronze monument in the shape of a tank strip, commemorating nine victims of the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies in August 1968. The tower is 65 metres tall. Liberec town hall is similar to Vienna town hall. Today Liberec Town Hall is the seat of The Municipal Authority.
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North Bohemian Museum
Since 1841 a Trade Association exsist. It had a section of Architecture and Design, that in 1847 founded a Sunday school for art. In May 1873, provisional museum committee was set up in the industrial association. The aim of this committee was the opening of the museum on the 25th jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The first location of the museum had premises on the attic of Viertler in Reichenberg. The opening took place on 2 December 1873. Since 1882 it is called North Bohemian Crafts Museum. On March 26, 1895 the site of the former botanical garden was provided as a site for a new museum building. An architectural competition was won by Friedrich Ohmann. However, he hesitated to revise his plans, so that the building is made by the architects Hans Grisebach and August Dinklage and opened 1898. Focal point of the building built in neo-Renaissance is a slender tower, which is an exact copy of the old Liberec Town hall Tower. From sculptor Emanuel Gerhart several gargoyles were created in the courtyard. Between 1982 and 1988 the museum was renovated.
The North Bohemian Gewerbemuseum originally comprised in addition to a collection of local history, a so-called glass collection with Bohemian, Silesian, but also Dutch glasses. Other Collections were the ceramic collection, earthenware and stoneware collection, the textile collection, the iron collection, the furniture collection and a library with mostly art and cultural-historical literature. Over time, more faculties were included in the exhibition program in accordance with the technical and artistic development. |