Cvilín lookout tower

Cvilín Lookout Tower is located on the Front Cvilín Hill about 2 km from Krnov to the southeast. It is a stone (brick) building, dominating the Cvilín hill. Without the antenna mast, it measures a total of 29.1 meters and you can reach the viewing platform by climbing 28 external and 96 internal stairs.

The easiest way to the Cvilín lookout tower leads from the parking lot near the church of St. Of the Cross and the Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows. A good road also leads from the Šelenburk guest house. If you come here from the center of Krnov, just follow the green tourist sign or the local red markings. You should reach the lookout tower from here after two kilometers.

From a height of 25 meters, in which there is a viewing platform, you will have a beautiful view of Krnov, the lowlands stretching around Opava, Mount Praděd and Hrubý Jeseník.

The lookout tower is built at an altitude of 436 meters and was officially opened on June 11, 1903. The original stone lookout tower was then designed by Ernst Latzel and largely financed by Prince Lichtenstein, after whom it bore the name Lichtenstein. Simultaneously with the lookout tower, resting lookouts and footpaths were set up on the way to the pilgrimage church.

In the war year 1945, the lookout tower served the German army as an observatory. As a result of the shelling, the lookout tower was damaged and reconstructed after the war. Unfortunately, there were not enough funds to renovate the tower above the observation deck, so it was demolished, which also reduced the height of the lookout tower.

In 1966, antennas and transmitters were placed on top of the lookout tower, and during the following years the lookout tower fell into disrepair. The Cvilín lookout tower underwent further reconstruction in the 1980s and at the end of the last century.

In 1993, the lookout tower was registered in the monument fund of the State Institute of Monument Care.
The lookout tower is accessible daily from June to September between 10 am and 5 pm. In May and September you can only get here in good weather, on weekends at the same time.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová