Reichenberg — Architecture Lives on in North Bohemia!
Jaroslav Zeman
Summary: “If we were looking for a symbolic name for the historical core of Liberec, it would be the word palimpsest — a city that, like a page from a medieval manuscript, is repeatedly and radically rewritten and reshaped, mainly depending on industry, economy and politics.”
The borderlands, also known as the Sudetenland, are an extraordinarily diverse territory, marked by many historical ruptures. One of the most significant was the de facto liquidation of the local Jewish and Roma population during the Second World War and the subsequent displacement of more than two million German-speaking residents in 1945-46.
The post-war situation in the borderlands was indeed different from the interior, and the new inhabitants of the formerly German towns and villages had to cultivate their relationship with their new home, in many cases in a complicated and long way. And some never did. It was not until 1989 that a certain paradigm shift was brought about, which marked another major turning point for the borderlands.
An initiative aiming at the most comprehensive mapping of the peculiar North Bohemian architectural scene is the project Liberec: Reichenberg, which was created as part of an interdisciplinary research project of the student grant competition Migration and Transformation of Centres in Liberec.
An essential part of the project are also the necessary accompanying activities, whether lectures, occasional exhibitions, film screenings, or regular architectural walks within the framework of Architecture Day, co-organized with the Kruh association, which are increasingly well attended year after year.
The current state of affairs thus encourages cautious optimism, although there is undoubtedly still room for improvement. Perhaps these projects and activities also contribute to this change, because after many years, architecture in North Bohemia finally seems to be alive again.