Jilemnice

The beautiful town of Jilemnice is situated 464 m above sea level and it is a setting-off point for the western Giant Mountains. Jilemnice is beautiful not only in summer but also in winter season when it is also important skiing centre, rightly called „the birthplace of the Czech skiing“. Jilemnice has about 6 thousand inhabitants. A lot of important and famous persons was born in Jilemnice: world famous geologist Frantisek Posepny (the founder of layer geology) – was born in Jilemnice in 1836. Josef Hanus (1878 – 1952) is famous as an excellent chemist and up to this day the Hanus´s medal is awarded in his honor. Works of writer Jaroslav Havlicek (1896 – 1943) are popular among the general public . Jilemnice was the most important inspiration for one of our biggest epic writer creating in between the wars (Neviditelny, Petrolejove lampy, Synacek, Barbora Hlavsova). Writer Jan Weiss (1892 – 1972) belongs to the founders of Czech sci-fi literature (Dum o tisici patrech, Spac ve zverokruhu etc.). Zdenko Feyfar (1913) is an important personality of the Czech artistic photography. The native Giant Mountains and Prague are dominant in his works. Popular composer, interpreter and designer Jiri Slitr (1924 – 1969) – native from Zalesni Lhota attended the local gymnasium. One of the biggest Czech realistic landscape painters Frantisek Kavan (1866 – 1941) comes from near Vichovska Lhota.

Jilemnice - history

The town of Jilemnice was established at the beginning of the 14th century as an economic centre of a large Stepanice estate owned by the Valdstejn lineage. The regular groundplan of the town square and neighbouring steets shows that the town was probably founded on a green grass.

The distant location protected the town Jilemnice against serious war disasters but on the other hand is caused its slow development. The development was much more reduced from 1492 when Valdstejns devided the town and estate into two separated parts. Firsts mentions about Jilemnice mines comes from the 15th century. In the following century we can find mentions about a highly developed linen industry. The Thirty Years War´s consequences were catastrophic for the town.

As late as in1701 when both parts of the estate were united together again in the hands of one owner – dynasty of Harrachs, whose members were known for their flexible and progressive economic, became a turn to the better. First of all, the new owners raised the local glass and linen industries to the world level. They brought linseeds of better quality from abroad and invited experienced foreign experts to teach local people the better linen processing. Tle Harrachs´ dynasty founded many bleaching plants which provide waste materials used in agriculture as the first artificial fertilisers. Tle linen fame of the town Jilemnice culminated in the second half of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century when excellent batiste, veils and another goods of a high quality were woven here. During the first half of the 19th century the linen industry was slowly falling down. A modern factory production dominated the textile business and Jilemnice was not able to compete. In the second half of this century started more active business in the town. In 1892 Jan Harrach brought the first skies to the Giant Mountains for his forest workers. Skiing became popular very fast for all groups of inhabitants. Jilemnic became the most important Czech skiing centre, rightly called „the cradle of the Czech skiing“. Local skiers founden the first independent ski club in Czech and Slovakia „Tle Czech Giant Mountains Club Ski“. The promising development of the town continued also in the interware period. It was only slowed down by the Mnichov events which moved the state boarder to the close neighbourhood of the town and paralysed the economic relations and tourism.

After the year 1945 the industry structure changed. Textile factories were partly replaced by the engineering and food industry (Cutisin Jilemnice, the only producer of artificial casings in the Czech Republic).

Jilemnice – tourist attraction

An advantage of Jilemnice is its location – setting point for hiking and biking trips. And we always meet an attraction. The Giant Mountains are paradies for hikers especially in summer. We can find here many hiking trails and paths as well as tourist goals. For example Zaly mountain, Zlate navrsi, the spring of the Elbe River, the Mumlava waterfall, the Elbe valley). Experienced bikers can visit higher situated place: Horni Misecky, Harrachov, Spindleruv Mlyn, Pec pod Snezkou, Zacler. Popular area under the Giant Mountains and the Bohemian Paradise is suitable for cyclists who do not like to steep hills. So you can visit for example the close chateau in Horni Branna, Veteran Cars Museum in Loukov, castle ruin Nistejka, Bozkov Dolomity Caves, castle Pecka, historical town Hostinne with the Antique museum etc. In short, everything is at arm´s length from Jilemnice – just to pick …If you want to bummel through Jilemnice, try the 8 km long educational trail „Jilemnice known and unknown“. This trail should show to tourists but also to the Jilemnice inhabitants sights and attractions of the town. Or you can try the marked cycling circle „Jilemnice criss-cross“ which is 24 km long and leads through Kozinec, Mricna, Martinice, Horni Branna, Hrabacov and back to the centre of Jilemnice. An advantage of the circle is that you can make it shorter or continue in another direction, for example to places we offer.

Jilemnice