Velké Losiny () is a spa municipality and village in Šumperk District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Bukovice, Ludvíkov, Maršíkov and Žárová are administrative parts of Velké Losiny. Geography Velké Losiny is located about northeast of Šumperk and north of Olomouc. It lies mostly in the Hanušovice Highlands. A small part of the municipal territory in the east extends into the Hrubý Jeseník mountains. The highest point is the hill Bukový vrch at above sea level. The village is located in the valley of the Losinka creek. History The first written mention of Velké Losiny is from 1296. The most notable owners were the Zierotin family, who acquired it in the second half of the 15th century and held it more than 300 years. The family had rebuilt the local fortress into a castle, had built new church and founded here a spa and a paper mill. In 1678–1692 Velké Losiny was the centre of the most infamous witch trials in the nowadays Czech Republic. They were conducted by Heinrich Franz Boblig von Edelstadt, who was summoned to Velké Losiny by Countess Galle and eventually stopped by the brothers Joachim and Maximilian of Zierotin. At the end of the 18th century, the Zierotins fell into debt and began selling their estates. In 1802, they had to sell Velké Losiny with the castle to the House of Liechtenstein, in whose possession it remained until 1945. Demographics Sights Most popular tourist sites are the castle, the spa and the handmade paper mill, the oldest in Europe. Notable is also the late Renaissance Church of Saint John the Baptist from 1599–1603. Castle The castle was built by Jan the Younger of Zierotin approximately in 1567–1589, on the site of an earlier Gothic fortress. The castle consists of three wings overlooking the courtyard with three floors of arcade galleries and is crowned by a narrow octagonal tower. At the turn of the 18th century the Renaissance buildings were extended with a further three, also arcaded, Baroque-style wings, to which were added a Baroque-style garden featuring romantic little structures and statues. According to unfounded reports the Austrian poet Franz Grillparzer stayed in the castle in the 19th century; he was supposed to have based his tragedy The Matriarch on the sad romantic story of the ghostly Zierotin protectoress. The castle interiors are among