When Liberec’s cloth merchants decided in the 1880s that their booming town needed a new town hall, they held a competition and chose the Viennese architect Franz Neumann. What he gave them, between 1888 and 1893, is a confident echo of Vienna’s own Rathaus: a neo-Renaissance palace with a 65 m central tower, two smaller ones, and a façade thick with sculpture.
It still houses the city council, and it still sets the tone for the square in front of it — náměstí Dr. E. Beneše — and for the tight old town behind, where the theatre, the oldest houses in the city and a notorious modern bus stop are all a few minutes apart.
What to see and do: Liberec Town Hall & Old Town
Tour the town hall
Guided tours take in the staircase, the stained glass and the ceremonial hall, and in season the tower gallery with its view over the roofs to Ještěd. Times vary through the year; ask at the tourist information centre on the ground floor of the building.
Read the façade
Above the main entrance a relief shows the old and the new town hall; a bronze knight stands on top of the tower. On the front of the building, a memorial in the form of a tank track carries the names of the nine people killed in Liberec during the invasion of August 1968.
F. X. Šalda Theatre
Directly behind the town hall stands the theatre of 1883, designed by the Viennese specialists Fellner and Helmer. Its painted curtain is an early work by Gustav Klimt, created with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch. The easiest way to see it is to buy a ticket for a performance.
Wallenstein Houses
In the narrow Větrná ulička, three half-timbered houses built for cloth-makers between 1678 and 1681 are the oldest surviving homes in the city — a rare glimpse of Liberec before the industrial boom.
Stroll the centre
Walk down Pražská street to Soukenné náměstí, look into the park around the Renaissance château, and seek out David Černý’s sculpture “Feast of Giants” — a bronze bus shelter in the shape of a table laid with unsettling leftovers — on Sokolská street. Ten minutes east, the Harcov reservoir of 1904 offers a lakeside walk inside the city.
How to get to Liberec Town Hall & Old Town
- The town hall stands on náměstí Dr. E. Beneše, the main square. From the bus and railway stations it is about 1.2 km on foot, mostly uphill, or a short tram ride.
- The nearest tram stops are Šaldovo náměstí and Fügnerova, the central interchange, each about five minutes’ walk away.
- Drivers should use one of the multi-storey car parks around the centre; see getting to Liberec.
Insider tips
- The façade faces roughly north-west: it is best lit in the afternoon and floodlit after dark.
- In Advent the square hosts the Christmas market; in summer, café terraces.
- The only guided walk of the city bookable online starts nearby — see our best tours.
- Museums are closed on Mondays, but the old town is good on any day.
Tours that fit: Liberec Town Hall & Old Town
These GetYourGuide experiences pair well with Liberec Town Hall & Old Town:
Private walking tour from €82 per group Liberec / Reichenberg Guided Tour in English or Czech
The only bookable guided walk in the city itself, and a well-reviewed one. A local guide takes your group through the historic centre of Liberec — the town the German-speaking world knew as Reichenberg — in English or Czech. Because the price is per group rather than per person, it is excellent value for families and friends travelling together.
- The historic centre with a local guide
- Offered in English or Czech
- One price for the whole group, up to 20 people
Private day trip from €910 per group Bohemia Tour: Turnov, Liberec, Ještěd Mountain, Škoda Museum
A private day out of Prague that follows the road north: the Škoda Museum, the gem-cutting town of Turnov, the summit of Ještěd and time in Liberec, with pickup and a meal included. The price is per group of up to three, which makes it a premium option, and as a new listing it has no reviews yet.
- The Škoda Museum in Mladá Boleslav
- Turnov, gateway to the Bohemian Paradise
- Views from Ještěd and free time in Liberec
