A splendid natural scenery where roads coming down along the Bělá and the Staříč rivulets from the valleys of Červenohorské Sedlo and Ramzová merge is where our ancestors decided to found Jeseník. Not only the confluence, but certainly the crossing point of merchant routes between Moravia and Silesia, too, were important for the settlement. Frývaldov, as Jeseník was called in the past, was first mentioned in writing in 1267 and 1295 is the probable date of its becoming a town. The saddest chapter of Jeseník's history was written during the l7th century, the period of Inquisition trials against assumed witches. Secular history of the place has been linked with gold mining since the early Middle Ages and with the textile industry that started in the l9th century. Vincenc Priessnitz (1799-1851), father of modern hydropathy, founded the first hydropathic institute here, thus changing the town's industrial image. The therapeutic tradition has been continued by the Priessnitz Health Resort ever since. Jeseník's material cultural heritage is a modest one because of many fires that had struck the town in the past. A water stronghold built at the break of the l3th and l4th century had long been Jeseník's security. The parochial Virgin Mary Assumption Church dates back to the early l5th century. Displaying the 1710 coat-of-arms above the main entrance, the Town Hall in the Masaryk Square stands on Renaissance foundations. Tovární street not far from the centre shows remarkable samples of burgher houses. The memory of Vincenc Priessnitz is omnipresent in the town; a 1909 memorial is in the Smetana I'ark and many more are found along the resort's colonnade at Gräfenberg, now part of Jeseník. The Priessnitz Sanatorium, the resort's most ostentatious building designed by architect Bauer, was completed in 1910. With some 14,000 population Jeseník is Czechia's important centre of health care, tourism and recreation. On 1 January, 1996, Jeseník was restored as district centre.

Water stronghold and the parochial Virgin Mary Assumption Church

The Ash Mountains Panorama and Priessnitz Sanatorium