39 Freedom Square

Today’s Náměstí Svobody (Freedom Square) was the main square from the time the town was founded. The town hall stood here, and roads led from it to each of the town gates. In the 20th century its name changed many times. For centuries it was called Market Square, because lively trade went on here, and traditional fairs were held on the feast of St. John the Baptist. After 1939 it was renamed Hitler Square, later Stalin Square, then Marx Square, and finally, in 1990, Freedom Square.

But it was not only the name that changed; so did the appearance of the square. The first major change came with a fire in July 1793. At that time Teplice was still enclosed by a small ring of walls on its medieval ground plan, and most of its houses were wooden. Half of them burned to the ground. Because this happened at a time when the spa business was flourishing, the tragedy became the start of a magnificent rebuilding of the town in the Neoclassical style. The walls were gradually pulled down, and the town grew far beyond its medieval boundaries.

The old town hall, which had stood in the middle of the square, was also pulled down. In 1806 it was replaced by a rather dull Neoclassical building with a small tower, designed by the architect Giessel, which stands in the row of houses on the north side. Next to it, the building of the Teplice Savings Bank was built in 1885, with a statue of Roland, the protector of town and market rights. Today both houses are part of the Teplice City Hall complex.

The original fountain was also given a new form. On its top stands a statue of the Virgin Mary Immaculata, which means the Immaculate. The statue was acquired when the property of the dissolved Jesuit college in Bohosudov was being sold off.

In 1896 a tram line was added here. It ran from today’s Beneš Square past the town hall, diagonally across the square and along Dlouhá Avenue all the way to Řetenice.

Because of rebuilding, the look of the square changed relatively often, but the fundamental changes came only with the demolitions of the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s of the 20th century. The old centre of Teplice, except for Chateau Square and Krupská Street, was gradually razed to the ground. In its place came car parks, the Teplice – střed housing estate of prefabricated blocks, and, right on the square, the Prior department store building from 1981. Somewhat younger is the telecommunications building with its sheet-metal cladding, entirely unsuitable both in its architecture and in its function. And so a unique Neoclassical town disappeared, with many famous department stores, cafés and an ancient pharmacy with its original interior.

The square went through its last major changes recently. The reconstruction of its surface in 2001 confirmed the car park as its main function. Almost at the same time, two department stores were built on the south and east sides of the square. Thanks to them the square is a little livelier, but from an urban planning point of view it is still not a functional space. The fountain stands in the middle of a roundabout, with a view of the bleak areas cleared by demolition and of the former seat of the District Committee of the Communist Party. And so its inscription only causes embarrassment. The inscription reads: “Smile, you are in Teplice”.