Šumperk

Coordinates: 49°57′55″N 16°58′15″E / 49.96528°N 16.97083°E / 49.96528; 16.97083

Šumperk
Town
Main street
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Olomouc
District	Šumperk
Commune	Šumperk
River	Desná
Elevation	315 m (1,033 ft)
Coordinates	49°57′55″N 16°58′15″E / 49.96528°N 16.97083°E / 49.96528; 16.97083
Area	27.91 km2 (10.78 sq mi)
Population	28 069 (2007)
Founded	1269
Mayor	Zdeněk Brož
Timezone	CET (UTC+1)
- summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	787 01
Location in the Czech Republic
Wikimedia Commons: Šumperk
Statistics: statnisprava.cz
Website: www.musumperk.cz

Šumperk (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʃumpɛrk]; German: Mährisch Schönberg) is a town and district in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It is called "The Gate to Jeseníky mountains."

History

A View of Šumperk, painting by N. Malizius from 1864

Šumperk was founded by German colonists in 1269. The German name Schönberg means "beautiful hill", and the name Šumperk is a Czech garbling of the original German name. The town of Šumperk became the center of the area. It was located on a trade route, and the town profited from the copper mines. Šumperk was a possession of the Moravian margrave until the 15th century. Petr ze Žerotína bought the town and had the city walls improved. The town became very rich in the 16th century from the production of top-quality cloth, better than was known in western Europe. The town became able to buy itself and it became a royal city, meaning that the king was the only owner, and there was no nobility. The town was substantially damaged in the Thirty Years' War, because it was an active member of Protestant alliance. Šumperk was punished by losing its royal statute and became a possession of Lichtenstein family.

A later tragedy was a huge fire in 1669 in which 244 houses were destroyed.

The end of 17th century saw witch trials, in which 25 men and women were burnt as witches.

In 1930 Šumperk had about 12,000 citizens, of whom one quarter were Czechs and the rest Germans.

In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, Šumperk was occupied by the Wehrmacht and most Czech citizens were expelled to the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. As the war ended the town was liberated by the Russian Red Army and all of Germans were expelled to Germany.

During the Prague Spring the area was occupied by the Polish army on 21 August 1968. The Polish army was replaced by the Red Army on 3 October 1968. Jan Zajíc and Jan Palach both protested the occupation by self-immolation (in Prague). The Red Army moved out in 1991 after the Velvet Revolution.

Culture, sport and architecture

• Cathedral of Holy Ghost
• Evangelic church
• St. Barbara Church
• St. John the Evangelist Church
• Lady Day Church
• Town sightseeing zone
• Homeland Study Museum (Vlastivědné muzeum)
• Theatre Šumperk (Divadlo Šumperk)
• Natural Preserve Jeseník Mountains (CHKO Jeseníky)
• Swimming pool
• Cinema
• Háj watchtower
• middle-age town hall

People

• Bernhard Joseph Ritter Anders von Porodim (also Bernhard Joseph Anders, 1752 - 1827, Vienna), an Austrian civil servant
• Max Barta (born 1900), artist, (de)
• Jiří Dopita
• Leo Freundlich ([1])
• Jan Hudec, skier
• Jakub Kindl
• Hans Klein (July 11, 1931 - November 26, 1996, Bonn), a politician, (de)
• Ivana Kubešová
• Gerda Rogers (born January 1, 1942), (de)
• Leo Slezak (August 18, 1873 - June 1, 1946, Rottach-Egern), a tenor singer
• Ondřej Sokol
• Dominik Ullmann (July 25, 1835 - June 5, 1901), a Jewish jurist
• Emil Alois Ferdinand Vacano (November 16, 1840 - June 9, 1892, Karlsruhe), writer, (de)
• Aleš Valenta
• Jan Balabán (29 January 1961 – 23 April 2010), writer

Other residents

• Jaroslav Mostecký, Czech author, (de)

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  Part of Main St - "Točák"

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  Town Hall in Šumperk

• 

  Another picture of the town hall

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  Main St, Town Theatre on the left side

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  Part of Main Street

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  Sudeten German removes Czech name in 1938

Partnerships

• Bad Hersfeld, Germany
• Maarssen, Netherlands
• Nysa, Poland
• Prievidza, Slovakia
• Vaasa, Finland

External links

• Official website (Czech)
• Informational Center of region Šumperk (multilingual)
• Culture and entertainment in the city (Czech)
• Accommodation in pension, Recreational cottage