Spa hotel Eliška
Lázeňský hotel Eliška

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• Historical handmade paper mill in Velké Losiny (19.01.2012)

  If at any time, you find yourself in the Jeseník Mountains, don’t forget to visit Velké Losiny. This is one of the oldest municipalities in the Šumperk area, which was founded as far back as 1297. From the second half of the fifteenth century, it was closely linked with the Žerotín Family, which it has to thank for its fame, not only in the paper industry. Many monuments remain to their three hundred years of activity here – a chateau, parish church, spa and world famous handmade paper mill.

  Jan the Younger of Žerotín takes great credit in the huge boom in Velké Losiny. In 1589, he finished construction of his new residence – a late Renaissance chateau. The birth of the economic development of the whole estate also dates back to that time. A brewery was built, a lumber mill, grinding mill and sulphur spa. Two years later, work was commenced on conversion of the unsuitable grain mill into the magistrate’s paper mill. The first written mention of the already-functioning paper mill in Velké Losiny dates back to 1603, when the Žerotín magistrate sold the factory to the paper manufacturer Ondřej Kluge. The local paper was recognisable by the fact that each sheet bore a watermark in the form of the Žerotín lion.

  The oldest paper making workshop in Europe

  The paper mill boomed and fell into decline in turn according to the abilities of the specific owners. For the whole of the 17th and 18th century, it provided its products to the whole of the wide surrounding area. The infamous witch hunts at the end of the 17th century even left their mark on its history. In 1680, one of the first people to be accused was Barbora Göttlichrová, the wife of the owner of the paper mill in Velké Losiny at that time. The boom in machine production at the end of the 19th century was a great blow for paper factories. Most went bankrupt around this time. Velké Losiny was lucky. Handmade paper operations were successfully preserved, because the owner at that time, Anton Schmidt the Elder, understood what the market of that time was demanding. He discovered the superb filtration properties of handmade paper and even achieved a renaissance for his product range in artistic circles. This allowed the paper mill in Velké Losiny to survive and to continue on until the present thanks to its original and high quality products.

  A visit to the factory here really is worth your time and effort. Nowadays, it is the oldest paper workshop in Europe which is still working. Handmade paper is still produced here in a traditional manner from cotton and flax. It is still used for its quality and durability. It is popular among artists or restorers and printers for printing rare special edition books. The President’s Office even uses it for important international correspondence. The whole work procedure is very demanding from a technological point of view and you can take a close look at this in the local “living” museum. If you walk through the whole factory, you will get to know all of the steps in the production process in this ancient operation. You will also find a museum exhibition here, devoted to the history of factory production and the beginnings of industrially produced paper. You can buy a pad of paper or set of writing paper and envelopes here in the local shop to take away as a souvenir.

  Other points of interest in Velké Losiny

  A Renaissance chateau stands on the southern edge of the municipality, built by the Žerotín Family in the 16th century on the site of what was originally a wooden Gothic fort. This beautiful and ostentatious building with arcades and frescoes has been preserved to this very day in an almost unaltered condition. During a tour of the chateau, you have the opportunity to return to the 16th century, as the furniture, pictures and tapestries have been left the way the original inhabitants left them. In the 17th century, the chateau was completed and surrounded by an extensive French-style park.

  Another tourist attraction in Velké Losiny is the thermal swimming baths, which are to be found in the northern part of the spa park and which are usually open from May to September. The water in the pools here is therapeutic and has a beneficial effect on locomotor, nervous, respiratory, skin and circulatory illnesses. If you set out for the baths in the winter, you can visit the indoor pool in the spa house. The thermal spas in Velké Losiny are certainly also worth a visit. The hydrogen sulphide springs with a temperature of 22-28°C were discovered in 1576 and their renown has done nothing but flourish since then.