On Ještěd today, people honored the memory of architect Karel Hubáček

Liberec - Only a handful of people today, despite the dreary weather, climbed to Ještěd to honor the memory of the author of the Liberec landmark - architect Karel Hubáček, who passed away last week at the age of 87. The commemorative event started an hour after noon with a joint ascent to the top of Ještěd, where 15 people set off in the rain and wind. Others arrived at the namesake hotel and transmitter, the most famous of Hubáček's works, by car or cable car.
For over forty years, the hotel and transmitter at Ještěd have been symbols of the city and the entire region, without which no one from Liberec can imagine the mountain today. "We wanted to remember the personality of architect Hubáček in this way and say goodbye to him," said one of the organizers, Tereza Šímová, who, along with other brave individuals, reached the summit on foot in thick fog, wind, and rain. People today took the opportunity to view the unique structure with expert commentary. Many of them subsequently lit candles on the observation deck.
Hubáček was born in 1924. He studied architecture in Prague, but his professional career is largely linked to North Bohemian Liberec, where he joined the then Stavoprojekt. In the late 1960s, he was among the founders of Sial, which managed to respond to modern European trends during the normalization period and produced several notable figures in Czech architecture.
Hubáček is credited with many buildings, but the transmitter and mountain hotel on Ještěd is his most famous work. Remarkably, when he began to draw it, he took a risk and ignored the competition's assignment, which envisioned two separate buildings at the mountain's peak. Instead, he brilliantly combined the transmitter and hotel into a single structure - a 94-meter-high tower in the shape of a rotational hyperboloid. The foundation stone of the building was ceremonially laid 45 years ago, in July 1966, and the building was officially opened seven years later. Since 2005, the structure has been a national cultural monument.
The author received the prestigious Perret Prize from the International Union of Architects for the project in 1969. The jury praised not only the sober and timeless elegance but also the practical use of modern technologies employed in the construction. The way the building complements the silhouette of the 1,012-meter-high mountain continues to captivate experts and laypeople alike. Thanks to this, it can proudly bear the title of the most significant Czech building of the 20th century, awarded to it in a poll by domestic experts. The Liberec region is pursuing the inscription of the structure on the UNESCO World Heritage List.