Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 288,000 inhabitants. It lies 15 km (9 mi) from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava, Ostravice and Lučina.

Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic in terms of both population and area, the second largest city in the region of Moravia, and the largest city in the historical land of Czech Silesia.

It straddles the border of the two historic provinces of Moravia and Silesia. The wider conurbation – which also includes the towns of Bohumín, Havířov, Karviná, Orlová, Petřvald and Rychvald – is home to about 500,000 people, making it the largest urban area in the Czech Republic apart from the capital, Prague.

Ostrava grew in importance due to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial engine of the Austrian empire. During the 20th century it was known as the “steel heart” of Czechoslovakia thanks to its status as a coal-mining and metallurgical centre, but since the Velvet Revolution (the fall of communism in 1989) it has undergone radical and far-reaching changes to its economic base. Industries have been thoroughly restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. However, remnants of the city’s industrial past are visible in the Lower Vítkovice area, a former coal-mining, coke production and ironworks complex in the city centre which retains its historic industrial architecture. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Ostrava is home to various cultural facilities including theatres and galleries. Various cultural and sporting events take place in Ostrava throughout the year, including the Colours of Ostrava music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, the Summer Shakespeare Festival and NATO Days.

Ostrava is home to two public universities: the Technical University of Ostrava and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport. The city co-hosted (with Prague) the Ice Hockey World Championships in 2004 and 2015.

Administrative divisions

The city, with a total area of 214 km², is divided into 23 administrative parts. On 14 September 1990, Ostrava’s City Authority decided to divide the city into 22 districts, effective 24 November that year. On 1 January 1994, the district of Plesná separated from the Poruba district and become a separate local authority. Some of the local authorities are further subdivided into smaller units.

Mayors

The first mayor of Moravian Ostrava and the last person to hold the office before 1918, while the Czech lands were part of Austria-Hungary, was Hermann Zwierzina. One of the most influential mayors in the city’s history was Jan Prokeš, who was one of the main driving forces behind Ostrava’s rapid expansion and helped to modernize its infrastructure. His achievements are commemorated in the name of the square outside the New City Hall – Prokešovo Square.

The city’s mayor during the Nazi occupation, Emil Beier, merged Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava to form a single administrative unit.

Postwar mayors of the city include Zdeněk Kupka, Evžen Tošenovský (who was elected mayor for three successive terms from 1993 to 2001 and went on to become the president of the Moravian-Silesian Region), and Petr Kajnar. The current mayor, elected on 6 November 2014, is Tomáš Macura.

Culture

Performing arts

Ostrava has four permanent theatres: the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (with two permanent venues, the Antonín Dvořák Theatre and the Jiří Myron Theatre), the Petr Bezruč Theatre, the Aréna Chamber Theatre and the Ostrava Puppet Theatre – which hosts the international Spectaculo Interesse festival every odd-numbered year and the Theatre Without Barriers festival every even-numbered year.Colours of Ostrava

Ostrava is home to the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and hosts a number of international annual or biennial classical music festivals, including Janáček May, the St Wenceslaus Music Festival and the Ostrava Days new music festival. Since 2002 Ostrava has been the venue for the annual multi-genre music festival Colours of Ostrava, which features an international line-up of artists and attracts crowds of tens of thousands.

Other cultural events in Ostrava include the film and theatre festivals One World, Ostrava Camera Eye (Czech: Ostrava Kamera Oko), the International Outdoor Films Festival, and the Summer Shakespeare Festival (held on an outdoor stage at the Silesian Ostrava Castle). Folklore festivals include the Harmony (Czech: Souznění) international festival of Advent and Christmas traditions and crafts, Folklore Without Borders, and the Irish Cultural Festival.

Museums and galleries

Ostrava has several museums and galleries:

• The Ostrava City Museum, a museum located in the 16th-century old city hall building on the main central square, housing permanent exhibitions on the city’s history, landscape and people.
• The Ostrava Science and Technology Centre, an interactive museum about the world of technology aimed at all ages, including simulators for driving a train, flying a plane, or working as a steelworker or an astronaut. The Science and Technology Centre comprises two parts: the Small World of Technology, and the Large World of Technology (14,000 m2), which is divided into four different “worlds” within one building.
• The Toy Museum, a toy museum including examples from over 60 countries, including some toys from the mid-19th century.
• The Railway Museum, featuring model trains, and a collection of original documents from the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• The Brewery Museum, focused on the history and technology of brewing.
• The Firefighting Museum, housed in an Art Nouveau (Secession) building in the Přívoz district previously used as a fire station. The exhibition includes a video showing firefighting techniques.
• Keltička’s Forge Museum, a permanent exhibition of blacksmithing and coal-mining. The building used to be the home of a blacksmith named Keltička (commemorated in a small memorial outside the building). According to the local legend it was Keltička who first discovered Ostrava’s coal deposits. The museum maps the early beginnings of Ostrava’s coal mining industry, including a collection of miners’ helmets and lamps from the 17th century and a range of other exhibits.
• The Professor F. Pošepný Geology Pavilion, which includes over 15,000 exhibits of minerals, rocks and fossils.
• The House of Art (Czech: Dům umění), a gallery of fine art housed in a building from the early 20th century.
• The PLATO (Ostrava City Gallery), an exhibition space with no permanent collections, which provides a space for exhibitions of contemporary Czech and international art.
• The Zither Museum, a collection featuring examples of the musical instrument.
• The Mining Museum at Landek Park, featuring a guided tour of the former Anselm coal mine with a guide who was a miner there, including a descent into a simulated mine tunnel.
• The Mill Museum, a museum of mills and milling in the Ostrava region.
• The Michal Colliery museum, a museum in a former coal mine presenting the city’s history of mining. The guided tour leads along the same route taken by the miners when they started their shift, but it is not possible for visitors to the museum to go underground. The museum is a National Cultural Monument.
• Ostrava Planetárium

Sights

New City Hall

• Ostrava’s New City Hall has the tallest tower of any city hall in the Czech Republic, with a viewing platform 73 metres above ground providing a panoramic view of the city.

Masaryk SquareJiráskovo square (Kuří rynek)

• Komenského Gardens is a park in the city centre named after the Renaissance-era Czech writer and educator John Amos Comenius, and the site of a statue honouring the Soviet soldiers who liberated Ostrava in 1945.
• The Miniuni World of Miniatures, located at the Černá Louka exhibition grounds, features miniature versions of famous buildings from around the world, including the Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, and Big Ben.
• The fairytale clock at Ostrava’s Puppet Theatre features figurines which perform a show at two-hour intervals from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The performance lasts two minutes. It depicts a battle between Kasper the clown and the Grim Reaper, and it also features four other characters – an angel, a king, a queen, and a devil.
• The Silesian Ostrava Castle, close to Masaryk Square, once stood on higher ground, but over time it has sunk by 16 metres due to mine tunnels collapsing underneath it. The castle is located at the confluence of the Lučina and Ostravice rivers. The castle is the venue for the summer Shakespeare festival, among other events.
• Stodolní Street is the city’s entertainment district, with more than 60 bars, clubs, restaurants and cafés.
• Masaryk Square (Czech: Masarykovo náměstí) is located in Ostrava’s historical centre and has a plague column with a figure of the Virgin Mary (1702) and a Baroque statue of St Florian, the patron saint of firefighters. There is a series of commemorative paving stones that starts outside the Laso shopping mall, as well as the Schönhof building, known as “the house with seven doors”, and the Reisz building designed by the Viennese architect Wunibald Deininger.
• The Karolina Triple Hall (Czech: Trojhalí) is an urban space located next to the Forum Nová Karolina shopping mall. These large historic buildings – formerly part of the Karolina coking plant – have been transformed by the architect Josef Pleskot into a new venue for sports, entertainment and culture.
• Ostrava Zoo is the second largest zoo in the Czech Republic and home to more than 400 different species of animals. In 2014 a new safari park was built, and in 2015 the zoo opened a new pavilion illustrating the process of evolution.
• Lower Vítkovice preserves a historic blast furnace and has a glass elevator to the newly built viewing platform at the top, with panoramic views of Ostrava and the surrounding countryside. There are guided tours describing Vítkovice’s history. The blast furnace, the former power station, compressor hall and coal mine are open to the public. The former gas holder has been repurposed into a multi-functional hall called the Gong.
• Ema slag-heap, on the right bank of the Ostravice, is an artificial hill created by piling up slag, or waste material from coal mines. Its top is 315 metres (1,033 ft) above sea level. It has a subtropical micro-climate because the waste material is still burning deep beneath the surface. White smoke comes out of cracks in the ground. Snow never settles here, and flowers grow all year round. A yellow-marked hiking path leads to the top, from where there are panoramic views of the city.
• The city has developed a mobile app called The Salomon Code, which helps users learn about Ostrava’s history based around the story of Baron Rothschild.