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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.