The town of Turnov is strategically placed on an elbow of the river Jizera, just as the river emerges from the valleys it gorged through the sandstone plateau to the north. The town is overshadowed by the Hrubá skála rocks to the south and the Klokočí rocks to the north east. It is viewed as being at the heart of Český ráj, both geographically and historically.

The area has been settled since since at least the Middle Stone Age (9,000 years ago), when our hunter-gatherer ancestors camped along the banks of a shallow lake which stretched from Pelešany (2 km to the south east of Turnov town centre) towards Ktová . This lake has since dried up, but it was presumably a good fishing spot. These Mesolithic settlers probably used the site to process stone tools and semi precious stones that were gathered on the volcanic slopes of Kozákov, 5km to the east.

Stone Age farmers arrived in Turnov from the more populated central Bohemian region around 7000 years ago, probably migrating up the Jizera valley from the south. The area became a centre for processing stone tools, created from high quality rock mined in the Jizerské mountains just to the north and transported down the river as far as Turnov, which was the first viable site for establishing permanent farming settlements capable of supporting the tool artisans.

Stone tools became obsolescent in Central Europe with the arrival of metal smelting technology from the East around 4000 years ago, and the stone processing settlements along the northern stretches of the Jizera appear to have declined. The area may have been mostly empty of settled families, and certainly of larger settlements for first part of the Bronze Age.

Later waves of farming settlers arrived from around 1000 BC onwards, including the Urnfield people, the Celts and finally the Slavs. All left their impact on the banks of the Jizera around Turnov, but none of the settlements were large. It was not until the arrival of colonists in the Middle Ages that the town of Turnov began to have its own identity.

Turnov was founded in the mid 13th century by Markvart of Břežno and two of his sons, Havel and Jaroslav. This Markvart family came to dominate the region for several centuries through its different branches – most notably the Valdštejns (founded by Jaroslav), the Lemberks (founded by Havel) and the Vartenberks (founded by the third son, Markvart the Younger). These three dynasties built castles along the Jizera, and in the sandstone rocks overlooking the river, to protect their various interests.

Havel was married to (Saint) Zdislava, who became famous for her support of the poor and refugees from the Mongol invasions in the mid 13th century, and was canonized by the Pope in 1995. Havel and Zdislava founded a major Dominican convent in Turnov (and also in Jablonné v Podještědí, where Zdislava is buried). The town of Turnov grew alongside the prestigious Dominican convent for 150 years, until the arrival of the Protestant Hussite army of Jan Žižka in 1423. Žižka spared the town, but destroyed the convent.

In the following centuries, ownership and influence in the town changed hands many times, including periods under Protestant control, and then Catholic. The town suffered major fire damage in the 16th and 17th centuries – the latter at the hands of an invading Swedish army at the end of the 30 Years War. The Vartenberk family stayed connected with the town until their extinction after the 30 Years War. The Valdštejn dynasty, most famously headed by the imperial generalissimo Albrecht of Valdštejn, took control from the 17th century onwards.

In these centuries, the town became famous for its gem cutting trade, an interesting reflection of its Stone and Bronze Age past. Details of Turnov’s more recent history is well set out in the Muzeum of Český ráj, located just off the main town square. The museum also has an innovative history of mountaineering exhibition, as well as a reconstructed gem-cutters house in the grounds of the museum.