Liptaň (german: Liebenthal) is a municipality and village in

Bruntál District Bruntál District ( cs, okres Bruntál) is a district ('' okres'') within Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is Bruntál, but the largest town is Krnov. Part of the district belongs to Moravia, while another part belongs to ...

in the

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region ( cs, Moravskoslezský kraj; pl, Kraj morawsko-śląski; sk, Moravsko-sliezsky kraj) is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region ( cs, Ostravský ...

of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It has about 500 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Villages of Bučávka and Horní Povelice are administrative parts of Liptaň.

Geography

Liptaň is situated in the

Osoblažsko Osoblažsko (literally ''Osoblaha Region'', german: Hotzenplotzer Ländchen, pl, Ziemia osobłoska) is a microregion in the Bruntál District in the northernmost part of the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. The microregion is also c ...

microregion. It lies in the Zlatohorská Highlands. The highest point is the top of the hill Kobyla on the southern municipal border, with an elevation of . South of the village of Liptaň is situated the natural monument ''Liptaňský bludný balvan'' with one of the largest

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...

s in the Czech Republic. Reminding of the period 250–800 thousand years ago, the boulder was carried there by a continental

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

from the south of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Its weight is about 4.7 tonnes.

History

The first written mention of Liptaň is from 1256. It was founded around 1240. For most of its history, it was a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

of the Olomouc bishopric or it was administered directly by the Olomouc bishops. The event known as the Liptaň Tragedy happened on 22 September 1938. Radicalized German villagers attacked the gendarmerie station and disarmed and assassinated all six Czech members of the State Defense Guard. The gendarme officers' bodies were transported over the border to the German town Leobschütz where they were buried in an unmarked mass grave.

Transport

Liptaň lies on the narrow-gauge

Třemešná ve Slezsku – Osoblaha Railway The Třemešná ve Slezsku – Osoblaha Railway is a narrow-gauge railway connecting Třemešná on the Krnov–Głuchołazy line with Osoblaha on the Czech-Polish border. It is one of the three remaining narrow gauge railway lines with regular p ...

Sport

On the Strážný hill there is a long

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial l ...

Sights

The landmark of the village is the parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The original church was as old as the village. The current building was built of red bricks in the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style in 1866–1870. Other historical monuments include the Chapel of Our Lady of Help, the house No. 240 with a chapel, and the former police station in the house No. 261 where the Liptaň Tragedy took place. There is a memorial plaque commemorating this event. On the top of Strážnice hill there is a wooden observation tower. It was built in 2003 and it is high. The narrow-gauge railway serves not only for transport but also as a tourist attraction.

Steam trains A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the Tractive force#Rail vehicles, force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rar ...

run on weekends during the tourist season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liptan Villages in Bruntál District