1. The Station Building

1. The Station Building

Jesenická 4

The railway connection between Zábřeh and the Klein brothers’ ironworks in Sobotín in 1871 connected Šumperk with the main centres of the monarchy, and it represents an important milestone in the development of the town. At the turn of the century, the textile industry, the region’s traditional manufacturing sector, reached an unprecedented boom. At the time, there were more than 100 textile and silk businesses in Šumperk. The appearance of the train station as an important transport hub had to match the status of the town. The grand new station building from 1900 was most likely designed by Carl Immer, the architect of the civil engineering department of the Ministry of Railways in Vienna. He drew his inspiration from the railway station building in Przemyśl, Poland, which he had designed five years earlier. The Neo-Baroque building in Šumperk is one of the most beautiful railway stations in the region.

While riding a train from Zábřeh into the heart of the Jeseníky Mountains, Jan Havelka Šumperk, the pioneer of tourism and the author of the famous travel book Cesty po Moravě (Travelling through Moravia), mentioned the following: “The exquisiteness and delightful location of the town pleasantly surprises, and it stands to reason that it bears the sobriquet Little Vienna.” Since that time, the name has caught on.