Svoboda nad Úpou (North-East Bohemia)
N 50° 37.558 E 015° 48.954
33U E 557710 N 5608549
Depicted neo-Gothic building No 373 was the Town Hall of a small town Svoboda nad Úpou in Krkonoše Mts. (Giant Mountains) till 1901, when municipality offices moved into the next building of Municipal House No 374.
Waymark Code: WM12A5D
Location: Královéhradecký kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/11/2020
Views: 16
Depicted neo-Gothic building №373 was the Town Hall of a small town Svoboda nad Úpou in Krkonoše Mts. (Giant Mountains) till 1901, when municipality offices moved into the next building of Municipal House №374.
The Town Hall in Svoboda was mentioned for the first time in Trutnov's Chronicle of Simon Hüttel in connection with the laying-out of the borders at Cerna Hora in 1587. It was built probably after a large fire in 1571, when 16 houses burnt down in the centre of this mining town. Once more a devastating fire destroyed it in 1599 along with all the municipal documents. The old wooden town hall with a small tower and an arcade had the date 1677 inscribed on one of the ceiling beams. the building was brought down and replaced by the contemporary neo-Gothic architecture, which was built following the design of a local foremaster Anton Gasel in 1869. Renown Hotel Radnice situated on the ground floor was quite prosperous and had an exclusive right to draft beer from Klugov's steam brewery in Rudník. Cinema Maj was located in the building since 1955, and a Cultural Club was also set up inside in 1974. The next Municipal House (now seat of the municipality and official Town Hall), to which Town Hall offices were gradually moved, is originally the house where textile entrepreneurs Johann and lgnaz Etrich were born. They donated the house to the municipality in 1901. Currently is building under reconstruction and rebulding into social apartments (2020-2021).
Svoboda nad Úpou (German: Freiheit an der Aupa) has a population of 2,082 and lies in the Krkonoše Mts. in the valley of the Úpa River. Based on the Simon Hüttel of Trutnov Chronicle, Svoboda was founded in 1009, but the first historic record dates from 1533. Settlement was granted the status of market town by Emperor Ferdinand I. in 1546, receiving many privileges of a mining town. Svoboda was elevated into a town by Emperor Rudolf II. in 1580. The gold and silver mining declined in the region during the 17th century, but Svoboda became an important industrial town when paper mills were built here in the 19th century. The railway was brought here in 1871. [wiki]