Welcome on the pages of the town Velké Opatovice

The town of Velké Opatovice is situated in the middle part of Malá Haná, in so called Boskovice´s furrow, below 50th parallel of the latitude.The local climate is mild, the lowest elevation is 388 metres above sea level, Hradisko, local highest hill, us 513 metres above sea level. The annual average temperature is 7,7°C, annual average rainfall is 660 mm - it rains for 120 days per year.

From the history of Velké Opatovice

First written notes go back to 1308 when at a neighbouring castle Cimburk (ruined nowadays) was a buying contract concluded which concemed the purchase of Opatovice. Originally, Opatovice consisted of two independent parts - Horní and Dolní (Lower and Upper). Both parts developed independently till the 19th century. Since 1888 Opatovice has been called Velké Opatovice. The most important noble families who have resided at Opatovice are Věžník, Salm and Herberstein.
On 15th October 1969 Velké Opatovice obtained the status of the city.

Town sights

The castle was built in 1757 in the style of Baroque, the last reconstruction took place in 1913. On 2nd May 1924 the castle became the properly of the town. On 2nd January 1973 a part of the castle was burnt down. Completion of construction named Fosili began in 1990. Nowadays in the castle there is a museum with a memorial of a sculptorK Otáhal who lived in Opatovice for 30 years. Within the building of the castle there are local government authority offices and a cinema. The castle is surrounded by a beautiful park covering the area of 6 hectares. In the park one can find rare trees and also the above lifesize sculpture of the czech composer Bedřich Smetana from the sculptor K. Otáhal. There is also a summer cinema situated at the park. In the city you will be able to see other interesting baroque sculptures. The church of saint Jiří is one of the dominants of the city. It is interesting for its baroque decoration and 4 x 4 m altar relief of saint Jiří in battle with a dragon, which is also a piece from the academicsculptor K. Otáhal.

Deep forrests surrounding Opatovice are suitable for trips on the walk

Neighbouring sights

The castle of Bouzov
Caves in Javoříčko
Protected area of Macocha abbys
Castles in Svojanov, Boskovice, Rájec, Kunštát, Lysice
Deep forrests surrounding Opatovice are suitable for trips on the walk

Swimming facilities
2 km north of the city there is a Smolenská dam (covers 3 hectares) where it is possible to swim. No services are provided there.

Refreshment
For tourist groups, it is possible to order in advance in a local cultural centre. In daytime it is possible to eat in the Dingo restaurant http://www.almara.cz/dingo/ , Borszem restaurant and in the evenings in a café Slavíček.
Daily 8.00 - 15.00 at City cultural centre

Žleb 264, 679 63 Velké Opatovice
Telefon / fax: 516 477 303, 516 477 359, fax: 516 477 216
e-mail : informace@velkeopatovice.cz
kultura@velkeopatovice.cz

Transport
train - line Skalice n. Sv. - Chornice
bus - connections from Brno, Praque, Boskovice, Letovice, Moravská Třebová and Jevíčko.
car - digressions off the routes Brno - Svitavy in Letovice, Žďár n. Sázavou - Prostějov in Boskovice and Olomouc - Hradec Králové in Moravská Třebová.