Ještěd Tower, Television tower and hotel in Liberec, Czech Republic
Ještěd Tower is a television tower, observation tower, and hotel in Horní Hanychov near Liberec, Czechia, built as a hyperboloid structure standing 94 meters (308 feet) tall. The structure houses a transmitter mast, restaurant, observation platform, and hotel rooms arranged around the central tower shaft.
A mountain lodge stood on the summit from 1844, later expanded into a hotel, until fire destroyed the building in 1963. Karel Hubáček designed the current structure, which was built between 1966 and 1973 and later received the Auguste Perret Prize for architecture.
The tower's silhouette appears in the logo of Liberec, the coat of arms of the Liberec Region, the local university and the football club Slovan Liberec. It also features in the Czech film Grandhotel. The building has been a national cultural monument since 2006 and was entered on the Czech Tentative List for UNESCO World Heritage in 2007.
The summit stands at 1004.75 metres, and the tower is reachable by road or on foot. The Ještěd cable car from Horní Hanychov has been out of service since a crash in 2021. The second-floor observation terrace and the third-floor restaurant look out toward Poland and Germany.
The building shape mimics the mountain cone and makes the summit appear as a natural peak from a distance rather than imposing an artificial structure. The design protects the construction from strong winds that blow at this exposed elevation, while hotel rooms are housed directly beneath the observation platform.
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