Bezruč’s Lookout

Bezruč’s Lookout (Bezručova vyhlídka) - The thirteen meter high wooden lookout tower has been standing on Brdy (461 MAMSL) ridge in the location of the original lookout of the Czechoslovakian hiking club from 1934 and provides a view of Kopřivnice, the Tatra car manufacturer and, in favorable conditions, even the Jeseníky Mountains.

Wheelchair accessibility: room is not barrier-free

The current Bezruč viewing tower primarily enables a view of Kopřivnice - a young and dynamic town, historically associated with the production of the famous brand Tatra. Part of the premises can be seen from the viewing tower. A wooden building with four platforms, built in 2012, measures 12.9 meters and 45 stairs leads to its top. In 1934, the Club of Czechoslovak Tourists built a bench and sandstone rock called - Bezruč lookout, in honor of the Czech poet Petr Bezruč, on the top of the middle Brdy above the town. Later, a shelter was built over the bench. In 1981, the tourist club TJ Tatra built a concrete lookout which provided a view of Kopřivnice and its surroundings. Construction lasted intermittently for more than 10 years. The viewing tower was relatively low, it was soon obscured by trees and began to deteriorate. It gradually fell into ruin over the next thirty years and became very dangerous for visitors. Its remanants were removed in 2012, when the construction of the third Bezruč viewing tower began.

About Tatra...
In the beginning, there were carriages and buggies. In 1850, the founder of the factory, Ignác Šustala began to produce them on the premises of the current Fojství Museum (the Bailiff's House Museum). About 47 years later, a carriage began to ride without horses and thus the first car was created in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The director of the factory and ingenious designer, Hans Ledwinka, left an important mark on the history of the town and the local factory, he enriched the world for example with the unique concept of the Tatra chassis or aerodynamic cars with an air-cooled engine. Not only cars were produced in Kopřivnice. The designer Hans Ledwinka was also present at the birth of the express wagon "Slovenská strela".

The town experienced a huge change especially in the 60s and 70s, when there was an increase in automobile production, an influx of population and the associated massive, not only housing, construction. After 1989, the car factory was in trouble for a long time and these troubles were transferred on to the town and the life in it. In 1999, the establishment of a business park next to the Tatra complex started a period when the town began diverting from the longstanding strong ties to the Tatra company. Today Kopřivnice is an ambitious town with bold plans for the future.

"The car factory got the name Tatra in 1919. Road tests of U type cars were carried out in the High Tatras. Local mountaineers likened cars to the Tatras. The name caught on and the fame of Tatra spread to the whole world."

The Tatra Technical Museum in the town center is dedicated to the history of the car factory.