The village of Vír is situated in the Svratka River valley which is surrounded by steep slopes and a dam from the north. Only southern part of the valley is opened and goes down to Brno.
This ravine had been created by the wild Svratka River (in the past called Švarcava) throughout centuries and millenniums. It used to flow through every part of the village. In the twentieth century an artificial riverbed was made under the hill called Povrchnice, also known as Kača. In the sixties the dam Vír was built on the river (see photo gallery of the dam).
Climatic conditions of the valley are mild with the average annual temperature of 6 – 7 degrees Celsius. The climate is also influenced by the Svratka River. In summer it makes the air colder because of its stream which is taken from the lowest level of the dam where the temperature of water never reaches high. In winter it makes the valley warmer because of its temperature of 4 degrees Celsius.
Population: 728
Area: 531ha (1 312,13 a)
370 – 550 m above sea level
History of the village
The village got its name from a local rock called Vířina, where dangerous vortexes often appeared in the water (vortex= vír in Czech). The first written document about this village refers to the time around 1047. Later it is mentioned in 1364 when there were new owners. They were the Pernštejn dynasty and the first of them was Vojtěch of Pernštejn. From the 16th century it was a property of Lords of Kunštát.
In the past the iron ore was mined there. From 16th to 17th century it was processed by local ironworks. These buildings have not preserved, only under the lower a balance reservoir where can be seen some foundations and mill-race. Personally I consider this area to be one of the possible places of the above mentioned buildings.
During the World War II this area was known by extensive partisan activity.
In the 16th century the village of Hrdá Ves was founded near Vír towards Bystřice nad Pernštejnem. It was an independent village until 1954 when it was joined to Vír under the name Vír-Hrdá Ves. Today it is just a part of the whole with name Vír.
The area of Hrdá Ves used to be 0.7 km2, in the second half of the 17th century it was 32/64 fields with 8 occupied houses. At the end of the 18th century there lived 103 inhabitants in 11 houses. In the first half of 19th century the number of houses grew up to 15, but there were less inhabitants. From 89 people there were Evangelics and Catholics.