Benešov u Semil

Hiking, sport, associations

Benešov is the ideal starting point for hikes and bike rides. There is a natural place to swim and fish, and there is also a golf course nearby. For cross-country skiers there is a well-maintained ski trail circuit in the winter.

There are two marked biking routes running through the village – regional biking trail 4174 (Vysoké n. J. – Lomnice n. P.), and especially the supraregional long-distance Greenway Jizera, trail no. 17, which runs for 170 km along the Jizera River to link the Jizera Mountains, the Giant Mountains, the Horní Pojizeří region, the Bohemian Paradise, the Polabí region and Prague.

Benešov has a long tradition of social activities and sports. Associations active in the village now or in the past include the Volunteer Fire Brigade, the Sokol Gym Club, the Jizera Theatre Group, the Jizera Hunting Association, the Czech Tourist Club, the Physical Education Union and, most recently, the Kulturníci association.

There is a multi-purpose sports complex for families and events, which was completely refurbished in 2004.

Village on the Jizera River

The village of Benešov u Semil lies on the southern slope of Benešovský hill. The Jizera River, which forms the village’s natural southern boundary, makes for a picturesque scene.

The first written record of the village dates back to 1411, when it belonged to the Semily estate. In the past, the local inhabitants make a living by processing flax and cotton by hand, before the work was taken over by factories at the end of the 19th century. The steep rocky banks rising from the Jizera were spanned by the Semily–Sytová road in 1878, enabling this part of the village to develop.

After 1880 František Matouš built a stone embankment and a single-storey wooden cotton washing plant by the river, and founded Bohemia’s first textile factory on the whole of the Jizera. Another textile factory was built fourteen years later in the isolated spot known as Hradišťata. That, including the part of the village under the Mošná rock, where not a single building stood until 1877, changed beyond all recognition within just a few years.

Now, as you travel from Semily along the river, you go through Benešov u Semil three times, as the road gradually winds through the local districts of Pod Mošnou, Hradišťata and Podolí, which were built after the factories were constructed, which are now closed. The centre of the village with the school, municipal office, cemetery, sports ground and fire station, is situated in the upper part of the municipality.

Suspension footbridge over the Jizera

The Jizera River, the largest right-hand tributary of the Elbe, rises on the southern slope of Smrk in the Jizera Mountains, from where it flows for roughly 50 km before entering Benešov u Semil.

The footbridge spanning the river by Benešov is built on the stone retaining walls of the weir and is the only place in the village where you can cross to the other side. It is used by the people of Bořkov and Benešov who live on the left bank of the Jizera, as well as the owners of recreational cottages, fishermen and mushroom hunters. Day-trippers also travel this way on the route from Košťálov through Benešov to Bozkov and the caves there.

Originally, the river could only be crossed via a ford and it wasn’t until 1963–1966 that a footbridge was built above the crown of the Jizera weir. However, during floods, which have been nothing unusual in recent years, its supports were a problematic obstacle. They often trapped floating tree trunks, which then dammed the river bed.

So, in the summer of 2002, a new suspension footbridge with no supports was built a few metres further down below the weir. This modern Alpine-style footbridge is unique in the Czech Republic and nothing similar exists in Europe. The wooden girders, the bridge deck and the railings are held up by a steel anchor structure and cables (or rods and pull rods).

The construction work was funded by the municipality of Benešov u Semil together with the municipalities of Košťálov and Slaná u Semil, whose cadastre includes the left bank of the Jizera River. Money was also contributed by Kredit Centrum Semily. A limited edition commemorative medal depicting the bridge was issued to mark its grand opening. 

From 2021 to 2024, a fish crossing was built at the weir, accompanied by a water vortex power plant. Besides the main fact that it removed a migration obstacle for fish, the construction of the crossing is unique in that it generates energy, the first project of its type in the Czech Republic. The small vortex power plant with its slow-moving turbines does not harm the fish and allows them to migrate in both directions. This helps to maintain a healthy aquatic community and is good for the river as a whole. The fish crossing was built was by the Saint Peter association, funded by a grant from the European Union Operational Programme Environment.

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