Velke Losiny

The paper mill at Velke Losiny has been making handmade paper since about 1596 and still does, which puts it among the oldest continuously working paper mills in Europe. The buildings hold a museum of papermaking with the vats, moulds, presses and drying lofts, and production continues alongside for artists, archives and conservation, with watermarked sheets made by hand as they always were. The chateau nearby is a Renaissance house of the 1580s with an arcaded courtyard, painted rooms and a library, built for the Zerotin family. Its dark association is the witch trials that ran in this district between 1678 and 1692 under the inquisitor Jindrich Frantisek Boblig, in which around a hundred people were condemned and burned; the events are documented at the chateau and were the basis of Kaplicky's novel and Vavra's film Kladivo na carodejnice. There is a thermal spa in the village.

History

Velké Losiny is first mentioned in 1296. Its most notable owners were the Zierotin family, who acquired it in the second half of the 15th century and held it for more than 300 years; they rebuilt the local fortress into a castle, built a new church, and founded a spa and a paper mill here. In 1678-1692 Velké Losiny was the centre of the most notorious witch trials in what is now the Czech Republic, conducted by Heinrich Franz Boblig von Edelstadt, whom Countess Galle had summoned, until the brothers Joachim and Maximilian of Zierotin stopped them. At the end of the 18th century the Zierotins fell into debt, and in 1802 they had to sell Velké Losiny with the castle to the Liechtenstein family (Wikipedia, Velké Losiny).

What's there

• A paper mill working since 1596 - among the oldest still producing in Europe.
• Handmade sheets - vats, moulds and drying lofts in use, with watermarks.
• A Renaissance chateau - arcaded courtyard and painted rooms of the 1580s.
• The trials documented - the 1678-1692 witch trials of the district, told at the chateau.

When to go

April to October. A day.

What to expect

The mill and the chateau are separate tickets and both are guided and seasonal. The trial history is presented plainly and is grim. The spa is for registered patients.

Nearby

Sumperk is south; the Jeseniky rise north-east.

Key facts