Velká Bystřice

Velká Bystřice (Groß Wisternitz) is a town in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,700 inhabitants.

Geography
Velká Bystřice is located about 6 km east of Olomouc. It lies on the border between the Upper Morava Valley and Nízký Jeseník range. The highest point is at 315 m above sea level. The town is situated on both banks of the Bystřice River.

History
The first written mention of Velká Bystřice is from 1275. A fortress in Velká Bystřice was first documented in 1381. Around 1500, the village was promoted to a market town. From 1589 until the establishment of a sovereign municipality in 1848, Velká Bystřice was owned by Archdiocese of Olomouc. Velká Bystřice became a town in 1998.

Transport
A section of the D35 motorway (part of the European routes E442 and E462), which connects Olomouc with the D1 motorway, passes through the southern part of the municipal territory.

Velká Bystřice is located on the railway line Olomouc–Moravský Beroun.

Sights
The most important monument is the Church of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. It is a Baroque church from 1742, but it has a Gothic core.

Velká Bystřice Castle was originally a Renaissance castle from the 1570s, created by the reconstruction of the old fortress from the first half of the 14th century. After a fire 1835, the castle was rebuilt and served as a brewery. Since 2014, it has been a hotel.

Notable people

 * František Moravec (born 1939), parasitologist