Liberec, located near the border with Poland, is a well-known ski sports and entertainment center of Northern Bohemia. One of the largest entertainment complexes in the country, Babylon connected with Aquapark, operates here.
Liberec was founded in the second half of the 16th century and quickly became an important trade and craft center, while in the 19th century it developed as the center of the textile industry. Its center has buildings originating mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, dominated by stately burgher houses and former palaces of industrialists. The town hall built at the end of the 19th century from the period of intensive development of the city comes with rich interior decorations and a powerful chandelier, weighing 450 kg, hanging in the Ceremonial Hall.
In the 16th century a castle was erected in Liberec, which after the reconstruction of the 18th century has survived to this day and is the seat of a museum where you can admire the largest exhibition of artistic glass in the Czech Republic. Another of the city's monumental buildings, erected in the early 20th century, the eclectic City Baths has now been turned into an art gallery. A little further from the center you can also see the picturesque Botanical Garden and the Technical Museum dedicated to Ferdinand Porsche and his contribution to the development of the automotive industry.
However, what really attracts tourists to Liberec is its entertainment offer. At the end of the twentieth century, the ever-growing Babylon Center was created here, consisting of a water park, casino, restaurant, hotel and iQlandia science center. Later, DinoPark was opened with a collection of moving dinosaur models. Trips to the Ještěd peak in the suburbs are very popular, with a powerful transmitter connected to the hotel on the top, and on the slopes there are ski lifts and ski jumps and walking routes.
