Last modification: July 10, 2009       © 2008 - 2009   Jiri Stary
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Roznov pod Radhostem is a sort of miniature Wallachia, at least as far as it concerns the history of its settlement. It was founded in the period of the first farming colonization in the 13th century. From the 16th century clearings began to be made on the foothills and in the mountains around the town which then formed two separate settlements, Dolni and Horni Paseky, in the valleys near two mountain streams. And finally shepherds´ huts began to appear above Roznov on Mt. Radhost, Mt. Cerna and Baca´s hill.

In the 19th century Roznov had only 3000 inhabitants and was notable perhaps only for the fact that the people kept in the strictly traditional way of life, determined by the poorness of the region and other factors. The original lay-out of the town square was preserved with its forty wooden two-storeyed houses decorated by picturesque arcades in the front.

It was also in the 19th century when the ancient wooden town of Roznov became a reputable spa. Its therapeutic meanings were the excellent climatic conditions which helped patients with “sick lungs” and warm sheep's whey which was separated from the sheep cheese and produced in huts on the mountain sides. The sheep were milked in the evening and soon after midnight the shepherds from Radhost Mount, Baca´s hill and other places set out for their daily way, carrying from ten to twenty litres of sheep whey on their shoulders, to sell it in Roznov before daybreak.

Then the spa guests walked about the park with beakers of fresh sweet whey, taking deep breaths of the moist resined air. They came to Roznov from all over Central Europe, above all from the Austria-Hungarian Empire. There were famous people walking through the spa collonade, such as Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, or Johann Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics.

The spa brought a culture in the town. A large spa park was created and later a spa house, and a spa orchestra played in the park and on the square. In 1862 one of the first choir in Moravia, called the Tetrev chorus, was founded in there. Roznov townsmen became dissatisfied with their wooden houses and replaced them with stone buildings, luckily not all of them. There were people who could not bear destroying the old buildings, and thus the idea of the Wallachian Museum was originated.

Today Roznov pod Radhostem represents an important tourist district and vacation land in the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy Mountains. The town and its surroundings provide a lot of opportunities for tourist and sports activities - hiking, skiing, swimming with a wide range of accommodation and catering possibilities.