Semily

File:Semily - pohled na Podmoklice.jpg

Semily consists of four municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census):{{cite web |title=Public Census 2021 – basic data|url=https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt-parametry&z=T&f=TABULKA&sp=A&skupId=4690&katalog=33475&pvo=SLD21043-CO|work=Public Database|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|date=2022}}

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• Semily (2,554)
• Bítouchov (374)
• Podmoklice (4,989)
• Spálov (81)

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The name means "the settlement of semils". The old Czech word semil was the designation of a person who is nice. So Semily was a settlement of nice people.{{cite book |last=Profous|first=Antonín|title=Místní jména v Čechách IV: S–Ž|url=https://mjc.ujc.cas.cz/search.php|page=40|year=1957|language=cs}}

Semily is located about {{convert|25|km}} southeast of Liberec. Most of the municipal territory lies in the Giant Mountains Foothills, only in the southwest, it extends into the Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge. The highest point is the Medenec hill at {{convert|544|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level. The town is situated at the confluence of the Jizera and Oleška rivers. The Kamenice River briefly flows along the northwestern municipal border and then joins the Jizera. The valley of the Jizera near Semily is protected as the Údolí Jizery Nature Reserve.

The first written mention of Semily is from 1352, when existence of a church is mentioned. In the middle of the 19th century, the settlement transformed into a wealthy town when the industrialization arrived and the development of rail transport occurred. Semily also profited from an advantageous location near the Jizera River.{{cite web |title=History|url=https://www.semily.cz/en/vismo/osnova.asp?id_org=101415&id_osnovy=1014&p1=1014|publisher=Město Semily|access-date=2021-08-18}}

{{historical populations

|align=none|cols=3

|1869|4219

|1880|5186

|1890|5929

|1900|6305

|1910|7552

|1921|6671

|1930|7396

|1950|6844

|1961|7081

|1970|8077

|1980|8464

|1991|9399

|2001|9262

|2011|8452

|2021|7998

|source=Censuses{{cite web |title=Historický lexikon obcí České republiky 1869–2011|url=https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/historicky-lexikon-obci-1869-az-2015|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|language=cs|date=2015-12-21}}{{cite web |title=Population Census 2021: Population by sex|url=https://vdb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/faces/en/index.jsf?page=vystup-objekt-parametry&z=T&f=TABULKA&sp=A&skupId=4429&katalog=33515&pvo=SLD21001-OB-OK|work=Public Database|publisher=Czech Statistical Office|date=2021-03-27}}}}

File:Riegrovo náměstí.jpg

Semily lies on the railway line Liberec–Pardubice.

File:Kostel sv. Petra a Pavla v Semilech.jpg

File:Semily Husova 82 MU.jpg

The main landmark is the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. It was built in the Neo-Romanesque style in 1908–1911, after the old Baroque church from 1702 was torn down.{{cite web |title=Town's monuments|url=https://www.semily.cz/en/vismo/osnova.asp?id_org=101415&id_osnovy=1015&p1=1015|publisher=Město Semily|access-date=2021-08-18}}{{cite web |title=Kostel sv. Petra a Pavla|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/kostel-sv-petra-a-pavla-12996225|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}}

The Church of Saint John the Baptist was built in the Baroque style in 1723–1727. It is a valuable cemetery church.{{cite web |title=Kostel sv. Jana Křtitele|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/kostel-sv-jana-krtitele-17726024|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}}

Dr. Karel Farský prayer house was built for the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in 1938 and is considered one of the most valuable buildings of modern architecture in the region.{{cite web |title=Sbor Dr. Karla Farského|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/sbor-dr-karla-farskeho-13809509|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}}

Obecní dům is a large Art Nouveau house built in 1906–1909, which forms a significant landmark in the historic centre of the town.{{cite web |title=Obecní dům|url=https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/obecni-dum-12997335|publisher=National Heritage Institute|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}} The house is decorated with a mosaic by Jano Köhler.{{cite web |title=Jano Köhler|url=https://ceskemozaiky.cz/showauthor/267/267/267|work=České mozaiky|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}}

The town hall dates from 1874. It replaced an old dilapidated wooden town hall from 1702.{{cite web |title=Radnice|url=https://www.semily.cz/radnice/os-1187|publisher=Město Semily|language=cs|access-date=2023-09-15}}

The Museum and Regional Gallery is located in a historical one-floor house first documented in the early 17th century, where Antal Stašek worked and his son Ivan Olbracht was born. The museum and gallery has been located there since 1960.

• František Ladislav Rieger (1818–1903), politician
• Antal Stašek (1843–1931), writer and lawyer, lived and worked here in 1877–1913
• Bohumil Kučera (1874–1921), physicist
• Ivan Olbracht (1882–1952), writer
• Magdalena Jetelová (born 1946), artist

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic}}

Semily is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Partnerská města|url=https://www.semily.cz/partnerska-mesta/ds-1009|publisher=Město Semily|language=cs|accessdate=2020-08-13}}

• {{flagicon|UKR}} Kolochava, Ukraine
• {{flagicon|GER}} Schauenburg, Germany

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{{commons category|Semily}}

• {{official|https://www.semily.cz/en/}}

{{Semily District}}

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Category:Cities and towns in the Czech Republic

Category:Populated places in Semily District