Spa Libverda

Establishment of the actual health resort is, nonetheless, associated with the noble family of Clam-Gallas. The Gallas family acquired the Frýdlant estate from Emperor Ferdinand II in 1636 as a gratuity for the family’s fidelity to the Emperor in the campaign against Albrecht of Wallenstein.  As Philipp Joseph Gallas dies heirless in 1757, his wife is made heir of his property with the provision that after her death (to occur in 1759) the estates, coat-of-arms and family name would be passed to her sister Aloisie of Clam’s son, who was born in 1748 and called  Christian Philipp. The arrangement was conditioned by the commitment from Christian Philipp and his descendants to add the name Gallas to their own name.  In 1768 the Empress confirmed Christian Philipp’s title to the Gallas estates and coat-of-arms. The Clam-Gallas branch was constituted.

It is Christian Philipp to whom the first spa buildings, built around 1760, have been ascribed.  Other recorded spa structures were raised about twenty years later: two-storey dining building (1779) - Trakteurhaus with 28 rooms and a large dining hall used as a ballroom in the evenings (called "Zum Helm", no. 69), and the mineral spring pavilion ("Sauer Brunn Gebäude", 1783). A record from 1786 mentions a contract to build two residential buildings just at the mineral spring. "Zum Schwarze Adler" (identical with the “Slávie" bath house demolished in the 1950s), "Turkenkopf" (12 rooms, no. 82), "Schlossel" and other buildings were constructed in 1789 – 1795. Gentlemen’s (8 wooden tubs for gentlemen) and ladies’ (9 wooden tubs for ladies) bath houses were built separately. Libverda water was applied for bath treatment in particular.  

In 1771 house numbering was carried out like in all other towns and villages, usually with the pub receiving number one. The village then counted 68 houses, to rise to 78 by 1786. The community began to develop mainly thanks to the healing springs.

By the end of the 18th century Christian Philipp had laid out an English-style spa park with a memorial commemorating the founders of the spa as well as farmers who had ceded their land to create the resort. The memorial, unveiled on July 22, 1790, had the shape of a decorative vase with serpents, raised on a tall prismatic pedestal. At the park’s periphery is an old lime tree with a crucifix and a hollow trunk. The tree, markedly dilapidated with age, must be tied with iron hoops.

Around 1800 Christian Philipp had a private promenade and an Empire-style lodge with the Clam-Gallas coat-of-arms built where he came to dwell in summer months. Moreover, a theatre, stables (to stall 52 horses), carriage shed (for 20 carriages), smithy and a pavilion over Maria Spring were built. The latter is the Neo-Classical building no. 82 with Doric entablature and a sun dial, presently the central spa office; a gilded head of a Turk used to be displayed in the building, so it was nicknamed Turkenkopf. All structures erected during this period are in Neo-Classical or Empire style. Christian Philipp died in 1805, nevertheless, the health resort as well as the community continued developing under his son Christian Christoph. An event of major significance for the community was the opening of an independent school, which also happened only thanks to the support of the Clam-Gallas family.

By the late 18th and early 19th century the spa had gained such a reputation that made prominent personages stream there. On September 16, 1779 the Austrian emperor Joseph II visited the place. In June and July 1807 the Russian princess and duchess Anna Fedorovna came to stay. Seven years later, in 1814, the spa welcomed the German Romantic composer Carl Maria von Weber. Rumours have it that the local landscape, especially the way to the  nearby Big Štolpich Waterfall below the hill Ořešník, inspired him to write a part of his opera Der Freischütz (another version says that the inspiration came from the Wolf’s Gorge (Vlčí rokle), a valley on the Malý Sloupský brook). A von Weber memorial plaque was unveiled in the spa in 1904. The Czech scientist Josef Jungmann dwelled in the spa in 1840 – 43.

Other famous guests included, among others, the writer Franz Kafka, German natural scientist and promoter of geography as an empirical science Alexander von Humboldt, Czech historian and Charles University professor Josef Vítězslav Šimák, son of the founder of the Czech state and later Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Masaryk and, last but not least, the world-famous conductor Václav Talich.

V roce 1779 dne 16.září je navštívil samotný rakouský císař Josef II.. V červnu a červenci roku 1807 přijela ruská princezna a velkokněžna Anna Fjodorovna. O sedm let později, v roce 1814, lázně přivítaly slavného německého romantického skladatele Carla Maria von Webera. Říká se, že zdejší okolí, zejména cesta k nedalekému Velkému Štolpišskému vodopádu pod vrchem Ořešník, ho inspirovalo k napsání části opery Čarostřelec (jiná verze říká, že se inspiroval Vlčí roklí, což je údolí Malého Sloupského potoka). Roku 1904 mu byla v lázních odhalena pamětní deska. V letech 1840 – 43 v lázních pobýval také český vědec Josef Jungmann.

Do lázní přijížděli další významní hosté, mimo jiné spisovatel Franz Kavka, německý přírodovědec a spoluzakladatel geografie jako empirické vědy, Alexander von Humbold, dále český historik a profesor Karlovy univerzity Josef Vítězslav Šimák, syn zakladatele českého státu a pozdější ministr zahraničních věcí Jan Masaryk a v neposlední řadě světoznámý dirigent Václav Talich.

In 1836 the Provincial Council awarded Libverda with the Healing Spa Status. The village was connected via new roads with the neighbour village of Raspenava and the town of Frýdlant in 1847. The same year saw the double-wing colonnade with Doric columns resting on prismatic plinths and embellishing pavilions built. The New Bath House (Nový lázeňský dům, earlier called Helm) was opened in 1868. Devastated by fire in 1911, it was pulled down and replaced with a modern structure, the present Pension Ostrava. Guests were entertained by a spa orchestra, performing there from 1783.

The family’s last male descendant Franz Clam-Gallas died in 1930. The last owner of the Frýdlant estate, Clotilda Clam-Gallas, left in April 1945 for Vienna where she died in 1982. Under the Clam-Gallas family Lázně Libverda became the unofficial residential centre of their estate.

The development of the health resort came to a halt in 1868, and no later rise in guest numbers brought back its previous reputation. Rich people began to prefer the fast developing health resort of Teplice and West-Bohemian spa towns.

Guest numbers of the day are documented in the preserved spa guest records:

A permanent post office was opened in the village in 1898. In 1900 the railway between Raspenava and Bilý potok was put into operation, which considerably improved the accessibility of the place.  A tennis court and playground were made at the beginning of the 20th century and the local lake was adapted for recreation. The community counted then about 800 residents and was able to provide quality accommodation in continuously renovated pensions and hotels. Libverda was well-known for sale of its healing water, “libverdská kyselka”. In 1910, 200,000 bottles were sold. The mineral water has not been bottled since the 1930s but pumped from the depth of about 100 m into tanks and used, warmed-up, for baths mainly.

A new village name: Lázně Libverda was adopted in 1906.

In 1915-18, a hospital for wounded soldiers with a capacity of 200 beds was established in the village. In total 1,948 persons were treated there. The first election took place after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic on June 15, 1919. Within the 1921 census 711 village residents were recorded, 693 of German and 18 of Czech nationality.  Industrial production was represented by the local porcelain factory. Libverda was an agricultural village too.

With the fame of the spa continuing to grow and spread in the course of the 20th century, Lázně Libverda became one of important health resorts in the Czech Republic. This was underlined by the elevation of Lázně Libverda to a state spa in 1936.

The existing lodging building Nový dům was built in 1986 and utterly modernized in 2000.   

Frýdlant Pension and Valdštejn Restaurant were completely reconstructed in the following years. Labská Pension was renovated in 2006.

In November 2006 a local lookout path called ‘Lookout points above Libverda’ was completed as part of an EU regional project. It embraces 5 attractive lookout points fitted with information boards telling, among others, some of the local folk tales.

One of them shows a panoramic photograph, village plan and panoramic map of the Frýdlant area and a part of the Jizera Mountains.

For the near future the spa management is planning to complete the revitalisation of the entire spa complex including reconstruction of the remaining structures, to build a new spa pool and a new central dining-hall for hotel guests.