Ještěd (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɛʃcɛt]; German: Jeschken) is the highest mountain of the Ještěd–Kozákov Ridge in the north of the Czech Republic, at 1,012 m (3,320 ft). It is the symbol of the city of Liberec.
On the summit is the Ještěd Tower restaurant, hotel and television tower, designed by Karel Hubáček, accessible by road or cable car (Ještěd cable car). The mountain also has a ski resort. From the summit there are views to Germany and Poland.
Ještěd Tower (Czech: Hotel a televizní vysílač na Ještědu) is a television transmitter on top of Mount Ještěd near Liberec in the Czech Republic. Measuring 94 m (308 ft), it is made of reinforced concrete shaped in a "hyperboloid" form. The tower was designed by architect Karel Hubáček, who was assisted by Zdeněk Patrman, involved in building statics, and by Otakar Binar, who designed the interior furnishing. It took the team three years to finalize the structure design (1963–1966). The construction itself took seven years to finish (1966–1973).
The hyperboloid shape was chosen since it naturally extends the silhouette of the hill and, moreover, resists the extreme climate conditions on the summit of Mount Ještěd. The design combines the operation of a mountaintop hotel and a television transmitter. The hotel and restaurant are located in the lowest sections of the tower. Before construction of the hotel, two huts stood near the mountain summit: one was built in the middle of the 19th century, and the other was added in the early 20th century. Both buildings had a wooden structure, and both burned to the ground in the 1960s.
Karel Hubáček (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkarɛl ˈɦubaːtʃɛk]; 23 February 1924 – 25 November 2011) was a Czech architect who designed the Ještěd Tower and hotel atop the Ještěd mountain near Liberec.
Hubáček's best known work was the Ještěd Tower, which was constructed between 1966 and 1973. In 1969, the Ještěd Tower received the Perret Prize from the International Union of Architects. In 2000, Czech architects named Hubáček's tower most successful domestic architectural work of the 20th century.