Josefuv Dul: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

Josefův Důl lies in a bend of the Jizera River. The built-up area is surrounded by green spaces and smaller patches of woodland on the adjacent slopes.

History

The local textile industry was established in 1763 when a manufactory was relocated from Kosmonosy, and reached its greatest prosperity under the management of the Leitenberger family. In 1868, textile production in Kosmonosy ended; all operations were relocated to Josefův Důl. The settlement of Josefův Důl was established as a workers’ settlement for what is now the former textile factory.

Culture

The château in Josefův Důl is a representative Neo-Renaissance building with a Baroque core and was built after 1860, probably based on a design by Ludwig Zettl. The château and its park served as the Leitenberger family’s preferred summer residence. The château park included allegories of the four seasons by Prague sculptor Tomáš Seidan.

Eduard Petzold designed the park of the Leitenberger villa. The main façade of the Leitenberger villa opens onto a landscaped park that separates the building from the factory premises and the workers’ settlement.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross with the Leitenberger family crypt was built in 1880 based on a design by Ludwig Zettl. The Neo-Gothic chapel of the Leitenberger crypt is located southeast of the villa in an elevated position and offers a view of the former calico factory premises. The Leitenberger crypt lies amid greenery above Josefův Důl along a hiking trail. It is empty because the family’s remains were transferred to Austria in the 1980s.

Technology

The small hydroelectric power station in Josefův Důl was commissioned in the first half of the 1940s and later served the TIBA textile company. To this day, it is equipped with the two original vertical Kaplan turbines from 1942. The reinforced-concrete bridge over the weir of the small hydroelectric power station to the machine halls was closed to the public around 2006 for safety reasons.

On the Way

The route “Through the Jizera River Valley to the Romantic Ruin” leads from Mladá Boleslav via Debř and Josefův Důl to Láskov and back to Mladá Boleslav via Debř. The Golden Trail of the Bohemian Paradise also passes through Josefův Důl on a 25 km route from Mladá Boleslav via Michalovice, Josefův Důl, Bakov nad Jizerou, Klokočka and Klášter Hradiště nad Jizerou to Mnichovo Hradiště.

Activities

The SK Josefův Důl sports facility offers football, tennis, foot tennis, volleyball, basketball and a children’s playground.

Other places: Benátky nad Jizerou, Bakov Nad Jizerou, Dobrovice, Skokovy, Sezemice U Mnichova Hradiště, Dalovice, Strenice, Jabkenice

To the higher-level travel overview: Mladá Boleslav District.