Luby (Cheb District)

Villages of Dolní Luby, Horní Luby and Opatov are administrative parts of Luby.

During the Middle Ages, Schönbach served as the community centre for the area countryside, and was referred to as Schönbacher Ländchens ("Beautiful Little Country Brook"). During the mid-13th century in Upper Schönbach (Horní Luby), mercury ore, particularly the vermilion variety, was mined in the area. In the 16th century, the ore was regarded as the most important in Central Europe. In 1536, about 200 miners had produced about 13.5 tons of cinnabar from several area mines.

During the Thirty Years' War, the mining came to a complete standstill. In the latter half of the 17th century, Schönbach flourished as a center of violin making.

In 1867–1918, Schönbach was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The village was located within the boundaries of the Eger District created by the Austria-Hungary monarchy. In 1900, Schönbach gained access to electricity and the railroad, which allowed the city to ramp-up production of goods, including musical instruments.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed in 1918, after World War I, and Schönbach became part of Czechoslovakia. In 1929, about 1,500 Schönbach craftsmen were employed making string instruments. In 1938, following the Great Depression, Germany annexed the western region of Czechoslovakia and administered in as Reichsgau Sudetenland, and occupied it until the end of World War II.

In 1946, right after World War II, Czechoslovakia restored the pre-1938 border and changed the German name Schönbach to the Czech name Luby. In 1949, residents with German ethnicity were expelled from Czechoslovakia. About two-thirds of the Luby population were German, among which, about 1,600 were instrument makers. The instrument makers mostly settled in Bubenreuth of Erlangen, which, before then, only had about 500 residents. Bubenreuth was, at that time, in the American zone of occupied Germany, and therefore was within West Germany afterwards.

There were several notable luthiers and music instrument companies in Luby, including:[2]

In 1948, when the communist party took power in Czechoslovakia, the production of music instruments was nationalized and unified into a single Luby-based company called Cremona that had been in existence since 1920. All manufactures and small workshops were part of this company. In 1992, Cremona was privatized and renamed "Strunal," which since as exported under the label of Josef Jan Dvořák (for bowed instruments) and Strunal or Amada (for guitars). Strunal, in its corporate literature, purports to be the largest manufacturer of stringed musical instruments in Europe. The name Strunal is derived from the Czech spelling of "String" ("Struna") and "Luby."

• John Juzek (1892 – c. 1965), exporter of orchestral string instruments; worked and died here
• Herta Huber (born 1926), German writer and poet

Luby is twinned with:[3]

• Markneukirchen, Germany

• 
  Centre of Luby
• 
  Town hall
• 
  Music school

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luby (Cheb District).

• Official website