Cultural and Information Center Riedel´s Villa Desná
Visitors can see Riedel´s Villa, a building that is one of the architectural treasures of our region. It was built by Josef Riedel Jr. (son of “the Glass King” Josef Riedel, the founder of the glassworks in Desná) between 1893 and 1894. He built the house for his wife Paula, in the style of northern Italian architecture. Today, you can find here a cultural and information centre with a library, a permanent exhibition of regional history, period documents and glass. Another landmark is the Riedel's Tomb, built between 1889 and 1890 by Wilhelm Riedel for his father, Josef Riedel. It is a family tomb, a chapel with a crypt. The remains were cremated in 1962 and stored at the cemetery in Horní Polubné. The family of Riedel is an important glass family that, despite the humble beginnings, managed to build a glass empire dominating the production of glass and jewellery in the Jizera Mountains.