New life in Český les. A First Republic school building has been transformed into a peaceful hotel full of nature.

Resort Český les now offers accommodation in luxury apartments. They are located in a former school building that has undergone a successful conversion.

For a hundred years a school has stood right on the border between Czechia and Germany. Its walls once echoed with the laughter of German-speaking pupils, later replaced by the boisterous din of pub regulars. Today an absolute calm reigns inside, one that can be savoured in the heart of Český les (the Bohemian Forest) by the guests of the several apartments created during its recent renovation.

Železná is a small village, the last one before the German border. It lies just a short way from Bělá nad Radbuzou, a few dozen people live here permanently, and you could say it is the middle of nowhere. Cars pass only rarely along the road leading to Germany, and for miles around stretches the beauty and calm of the Český les countryside. In recent years, however, life has been returning even to this place.

This is thanks to the investments of Jindřich and Ondřej Karhan. Father and son first transformed the former border guard company building from the mid-1980s and its surroundings into a resort offering comfortable apartments, local cuisine and a wellness area. The resort has now been joined by the renovated building of a First Republic-era school, standing just a stone's throw from the old barracks.

The school has stood here for roughly 100 years and originally served the local German-speaking population. In 1947, however, it was abandoned, and its original purpose gave way to entertainment and merriment when an inn opened here. A hostel followed later, and after that the building simply fell into disrepair. “We bought the building in a derelict state, keeping only the perimeter walls and part of the roof. Otherwise we carried out a complete reconstruction, which was extremely demanding and lasted from 2021 until the end of 2023,” explains Ondřej Karhan.

They called in the architectural studio Konceptual, with whom father and son Karhan had already worked during the conversion of the barracks into the Aparthotel. The aim was to preserve part of the school building's original character while creating apartments full of design and luxury that respond to the place where they came into being.

The entire reconstruction of the school building called for an investment of 40 million crowns. The result is a discreet conversion that has left the building its former visual character. The exterior is dominated by shutters and an entrance door in a fresh green that contrasts with the cream-coloured façade. On the lower floor the windows were extended all the way down to floor level, which gives the ground-floor apartments a character of their own and makes them barrier-free at the same time.

The other apartments can only be reached by the original stone staircase, one of the building's preserved original features. Inside there are 8 apartments in total, each with a unique name and visual styling. As guests of the Na jezeře (On the Lake) apartment, we were able to feast our eyes on a painting of a lake stretching out between the hills.

Above all, though, we savoured the absolute quiet this place offers. There is practically nothing to be heard, only birdsong, let in as soon as you open the windows. You may remember from your own school days that large windows were part of every classroom, and the school in Železná is no exception.

As a result, every apartment is full of light. Combined with moss-green furniture, the earthy tones of the curtains and throws and a dark brown floor, it creates the feeling that you really are resting somewhere out in nature, whether by a lake or a brook, in moss or ferns, or suspended in a tree.

The very greatest treat, however, is hidden right at the top, V Oblacích (In the Clouds). That is the name given to the hundred-square-metre apartment created in the former attic. Where old maps and perhaps the odd skeleton once gathered dust, there is now a bed crowned by a vault of beams from the original roof truss. It weaves through the whole apartment and gives the most luxurious accommodation in the entire resort its very own character.