Hejnice (; ) is a town in

Liberec District Liberec District () is a district in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the city of Liberec. Administrative division Liberec District is divided into three administrative districts of municipalities with extended competence: ...

in the

Liberec Region Liberec Region () is an administrative unit (Czech language, Czech: ''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located in the northernmost part of its historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Liberec. The region shares international bor ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It has about 2,800 inhabitants.

Administrative division

Hejnice consists of two municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Hejnice (2,360) *Ferdinandov (274)

Etymology

The original German name of the village ''Haindorf'' is based on the German ''Dorf im Haine'', which means 'village in the grove'. The Czech name was derived from the German one and from ''háj'', i.e. 'grove'.

Geography

Hejnice is located about northeast of

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

. It lies in the valley of the

Smědá The Smědá (; , ) is a river in the Czech Republic and Poland, a right tributary of the Lusatian Neisse River. It flows through the Liberec Region in the Czech Republic and then through Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Together with the Bílá Smědá, ...

River under the northern slopes of the

Jizera Mountains Jizera Mountains (), or Izera Mountains (; ), are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera (river), Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of the Smrk (Jizera), ...

. The northernmost part of the municipal territory lies in the

Frýdlant Hills Frýdlant (, also known as Frýdlant v Čechách; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. ...

. The highest peak is the Jizera Mountain at above sea level. The entire territory of Hejnice is situated in the Jizerské hory Protected Landscape Area. Half of the Czech part of the UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

named

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe is a transnational serial nature UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompassing 93 component parts (forests of European beech, ''Fagus sylvatica'') in 18 European coun ...

is situated in the territory of Hejnice.

History

According to legend, a pilgrimage church was founded here already in 1211. The first written mention of Hejnice is from 1381. In the 16th century, iron ore mines were opened. In 1692, count František Gallas established a Franciscan monastery, which helped the visibility of the village. In the 19th century, several textile factories were established in the village and its surroundings. The village of Hejnice was promoted to a town in 1917. In 1938, Hejnice was annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. From 1938 to 1945, it was administered as part of the

Reichsgau Sudetenland The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the ''Sudetenland'' territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. ...

Demographics

Transport

Hejnice is located on a short railway line of local importance from

Raspenava Raspenava (; ) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. Etymology The original German name ''Raspenau'' was derived from the personal name Raspe and meant "Raspe's floodplain". The ...

to Bílý Potok.

Sights

The former Franciscan monastery and its pilgrimage Church of the Visitation are the most valuable buildings in Hejnice. Today the monastery premises are used for cultural and social purposes and provide accommodation. The Church of the Visitation was originally a small wooden church from the 14th century, which was gradually expanded. The most valuable object is a wooden Gothic sculpture of the

Black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Jungian scholar, San Begg publ ...

from 1380. In front of the church stands the Marian column from 1695.

Notable people

Oskar Romm Oskar "Ossi" Romm (18 December 1919 – 1 May 1993) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and fighter ace during World War II. He is credited with 92 aerial victories achieved in 283 combat missions, 54 of which were close air support missio ...

(1919–1993), German flying ace * Katharina Matz (1935–2021), German actress *

Jürgen Kocka Jürgen Kocka (born 19 April 1941 in Haindorf, Sudetenland) is a German historian. A university professor and former president of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (2001–2007), Kocka is a major figure in the new Social History, espe ...

(born 1941), German historian

Twin towns – sister cities

Hejnice is twinned with: *

Łęknica Łęknica (; , ) is a border town in western Poland, one of the two gminas of Żary County in Lubusz Voivodeship. Muskau Park (''Park Mużakowski''), a Polish-German World Heritage Site and Historic Monument of Poland, stretches north of the ...

, Poland

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Liberec District