During the celebrations, visitors will also be allowed into the tower

Liberec - The usually inaccessible technical background of the transmitter on Ještěd will be open for visitors during the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Czech construction of the century. For the first time, they will also see the refurbished hotel lounge, which will look similar to how it did in 1973 when the hotel and transmitter were opened. The event will traditionally begin on Saturday, September 21, with a climb by brave individuals from the lower station of the cable car to the top with an empty beer barrel on their backs. Today, the governor's deputy Hana Maierová (Mayors for the Liberec Region) introduced the program of the celebrations to the journalists.
    This year’s jubilee edition is marked by the number 40. For this reason, the organizers want to attract as many people as possible who were born in 1973. "We invite them to join in an attempt to set a record for the number of forty-somethings gathering in one place," said Maierová.
    In the style of the era of the hyperboloid's construction, a 94-meter-high fashion show will take place, along with music from The Beatles Veteran Club and a screening of a contemporary film chosen by the public. Organizers also expect great interest in tours of the transmitter's technical facilities. "Basically, they will see the tower from the inside. The spaces are not usually accessible. I am glad that Czech Radiokomunikace allowed the tours," said Petr Šmaus, the operator of the hotel on Ještěd.
    This year, the Liberec transport company will also get involved in the celebrations, connecting their open house with the celebrations. Historical trams will therefore run from the city center to the terminus in Horní Hanychov. From there, people will take a cable car or historical buses to the mountain's summit. They will not be able to reach Ještěd by their own cars, as the narrow road from Výpřež will be closed.
    The mountain hotel with the television transmitter on Ještěd is one of the most original architectural works in the country; at that time, the victory of Karel Hubáček's design was a great surprise. When an exhibition of architectural designs was held 50 years ago, most visitors criticized or outright rejected Hubáček's design. Today, both experts and laypeople are captivated by the way the building complements the silhouette of the 1012-meter-high mountain. Ještěd's elegant conical shape earned Hubáček the Auguste Perret Prize in 1969 for its elegance and practical use of modern technologies.
    For its time, Ještěd was an exceptional building. Many technical aspects were tested there for the very first time; some things were done as prototypes or completely on the fly - for instance, antennas were placed under a plastic shell, and the twelve-meter plastic rods were ultimately produced by a factory making fishing rods. The interior furnishing was also exceptional for the time. Notable artists of the era participated in it, such as architect Otakar Binar or glassmakers Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová. Dishes and some textile accessories were made according to designs by Karel Wünsche, the grille located in the hotel corridor was created by Jaroslav Klápště, and the tapestry on the wall of the lounge was made by Vladimír Křečan.