The town of Semily lies at the foot of the misterious myth-shrouded Kozakov volcano, at the cunfluence of the Jizera and Oleska rivers, and in an extensive basin surrounded by the foothills of the Krkonose mountain range. For centuries it was the seat of feudal lords.
The fiefdom for many yers belonged to the Smiricky family, and then to Albrecht of Wallenstein. It then fell into the hands of foreign aristocratic families. In 1890 the town of Semily bought up the remnants of the Semily fiefdom.
In past centuries Semily has seen the development of agriculture, trade, crafts small manufactures, and finally industry making use of the energy of the river. Mills, the manufacture of yarn and linen and textile printing represented the main activities here, and from 1515 there was also a brewery. The building of
the Pardubice - Liberec railway at the end of the last century gave the impulse for the gradual transformation of Semily into today's industrial regional capital specialising in textile, timber-processing, and machine-tool production.
In the past the town was mainly built of wood, and was stricken by a number of devastating fires. For this reason few historic buildings have been preserved. Apart from the museum building, dating from 1760,
the cemetery church of St. John the Baptist (1727) and the vicarage (1797), the town's most valuable monument is a Marian column of 1738. The original 16
th century chateau was entirely reconstructed after two fires and the Regional Office has its seat there. Interesting buildings were added to the town at the end of the 19
th and beginning of the 20
th centuries. These were a series of Art Nouveau buildings: the Okresni dum Hotel, the Sokol gymnasium, and houses in Husova Street and by the station - in the previously independent district of Podmoklice. The dominant feature in Semily is the neo-romantic church of St. Peter a St. Pavel, which was built in 1911.
Bozkovske dolomitove jeskyne - Touristic information for favourer of natural sights in Semily surroundings
Websites of Semily district towns and municipalities:municipality Lisni
Průvodce 
