Lookout tower on Smrk in the Jizera Mountains

Mount Smrk in the Jizera Mountains has been carrying an iron lookout tower since 2003. It is located at an altitude of 1124 meters and its total height is 23 meters.

You can reach the viewing platform by climbing 91 steps. From a height of 18 meters you will have a view within a radius of up to 150 km, of course with good visibility and favorable weather. Of course, you can see the Jizera Mountains, but also the Giant Mountains, Ještěd, Bezděz, Říp or the Lusatian Mountains.

For hikers, there are several routes to visit the Smrk lookout tower:

From Nové Město pod Smrkem, a blue tourist sign leads here through Kyselka, Kamen republiky and Streit's picture. This road is about 7 km long.
From Lázně Libverda you can get to Smrk following the red tourist sign, leading for example around Jizerská chata, Hubertka, Tišina, etc. The road is about 8.5 km long.
From Bílý Potok you can get here by following the yellow and blue tourist signs.
The red tourist sign will take you here from the Smědava cottage to the Heavenly Ladder. You have to keep following the blue to Spruce.
The lookout tower is freely accessible and open daily without restrictions.

The border mountain Smrk has always provided a wonderful view of the surroundings. The first lookout tower on this hill was built on the initiative of the Ornamental Association. It had four floors and was 20 meters high. It was built in seven weeks and was ceremoniously opened to tourists on August 21, 1892. At that time, more than a thousand people attended the opening.

The lookout tower was very popular among tourists, it was visited by almost 20,000 people a year! In addition, there was a tourist hut near it, which used to serve as a shelter for the workers during the construction of the lookout tower. At that time, the builder Fritsch became the administrator of the cottage and the lookout tower, and he carefully took care of both buildings. Thanks to his care, the lookout tower lasted an incredible 50 years! However, it collapsed at the beginning of the 1950s, and today we can find a replica of it in the Prague Zoo.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Society for the Restoration of a Lookout Tower was founded in Nové Město. She announced an architectural competition and even the winning design was chosen. However, subsequent negotiations with the relevant state organizations postponed the construction of the lookout tower for several years.

It was not until the end of 2002 that part of the structure was made. The transport of parts of the lookout tower to the site took a week. The construction was also interrupted for several days due to strong winds. Even so, it took only a month for the lookout tower to be built. The grand opening, which was attended by two thousand people, took place on September 20, 2003.

The lookout tower has two floors and is equipped with a room for about 25 people who can hide here from bad weather. Because Mount Smrk stands at the border crossing, it is also visited by tourists from Poland.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová