Josefův Důl is a village and municipality in the Jablonec nad Nisou District

Jablonec nad Nisou District

Jablonec nad Nisou District is a district within the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic...

 of the Liberec Region

Liberec Region

Liberec Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the northernmost part of its historical region of Bohemia. Region borders with Saxony, and Poland...

 in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. The municipality covers an area of 22km² and, as of 2006, it had a population of 1021. It is located at 625m above sea level in the Valley of the Kamenice river

Kamenice (Jizera)

Kamenice river is a tributary of the Jizera river in the Czech Republic. It rises from several source streams in the Jizera Mountains of Bohemia at Holubník...

  in the southeastern part of the Jizera Mountains

Jizera Mountains

Jizera Mountains , or Izera Mountains, are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The major part is formed from granite, with some areas formed from basalt. The mountains got their name from the Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of Smrk...

 . Above the town 2.5 km lies the Kamenice river that is collected by the Josefův Důl dam

Josefův Důl dam

The Josefův Důl dam sits above the village Josefův Důl and dams the water of Kamenice river. It was built between 1976 and 1982 and is the largest dam in the Jizera Mountains. It is has a height of 43 m and a capacity of 23 million cubic meters. It is used for drinking water so recreational...

. Just 8 km northeast sits the town of Jablonec nad Nisou

Jablonec nad Nisou

Jablonec nad Nisou is a town in northern Bohemia, the second largest town of the Liberec Region. It is known as a mountain resort in the Jizera Mountains, an education centre, and a centre of world-production of glass and jewellery...

.

History

Beginning in the year 1690, Maximilian II Emanuel populated the area with German immigrants. In 1700, the city of Karlsberg was founded, which produced glass and crystal

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...

 products. Karlsberg was divided into Untermaxdorf, Karlsberg and Josefsthal in 1827. Fifty years later Untermaxdorf and Antoniwald were incorporated.

The Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement

The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...

 permitted Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 to annex the area in 1938 into what he called the Sudetenland

Sudetenland

Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

. Shortly thereafter Karlsberg was dissolved becoming Obermaxdorf and Antoniwald. Josefsthal and Untermaxdorf formed a new community named Iserwald. Following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, in 1945, the town returned to Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 and the German inhabitants were expelled

Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia

The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II was part of a series of evacuations and expulsions of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe during and after World War II....

 under the terms of Beneš decrees

Beneš decrees

Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...

.

The Church

The Josefův Důl church was built between 1862 and 1865 in a neo-gothic style. It's construction was partially funded by a lottery and 4000 gold pieces were collected. The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone was held in September 1862. The church tower is 45 meters high, the interior fittings house three valuable altar paintings by Wilhelm Kandler.

Present day

Known as "the gateway to Jizera Mountains" it is a popular destination for skiers

Skiing

Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

, hikers

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 and cyclists

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

. Rivers in the town include the Kamenice, which is a tributary of the Jizera river, and the Jedlová river which flows through the Jedlový dul nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

.

Landmarks

• Neo-Gothic church from 1862
• Castle, seat of the royal family of the Des Fours-Walderode

Neighbouring communities

The municipality of Josefův Důl includes the villages of Ortsteile Antonínov (Antoniwald), Karlov (Karlsberg) and Dolní Maxov (Untermaxdorf).

List of people from Josefův Důl

• Gustav Leutelt
  Gustav Leutelt
  Gustav Leutelt was an ethnic German poet and writer from the region of Bohemia, which was then part of the Austrian Empire but is now part of the Czech Republic...
  
   (1860–1947), poet, writer
• Fidelio F. Finke (1891–1968), composer
• Anna Fatton-Janoušková (~1965), cross-country skier