Železný Brod is the town in the valley of the Jizera river not far from the city of Jablonec nad Nisou. In the past, it was known as the Brod or Brodek settlement founded approximately at the 11th or 12th century. The Czech king Přemysl Otakar II. declared the Brod settlement a town. From the 14th century, iron ore was found and extracted in the surroundings. At the end of the Thirty Years‘ War the extraction ceased and the town was burned down. At the turn of the 16th century, the town was called Železný (iron) mainly due to the iron ore mines.

At the start of the 20th century, fabrics and glass production starts to flourish, which renders the town famous all over the world. In 1920, the first vocational glass-making school was open in Železný Brod, which is in operation until present.

The school was established in 1920 to support and help develop the traditional glass-making industry, as the first Czech school. The start of the school was influenced by young professors of the Academy of arts, architecture and design in Prague - the sculptor J. Brychta, Z. Juna, L. Přenosil and others together with the first director Alois Metelák. The school focuses mainly on glass painting, glass cutting, shaping of foundry glass, glass engraving, table figures, artificial jewelery, metal engraving. Many prominent glass-makers, artists studied here. The influential persons who taught here or ran the school include M. Janků, Jitka Válová, Prof. S. Libenský, B. Eliáš, G. Šabóková, J. Rybák, J. Exnar, P. Ježek, Z. Lhotský, R. Plesl and others. During summer holidays (July and August), the school hosts a unique glass exhibition presenting work of students in the following areas: painting, engraving and cutting of glass, glass figures, artificial jewelery and gem. The town hosts yearly glass exhibitions and the Železný Brod Fair.