The City of Ostrava

The City of Ostrava

Hello and thanks for tuning in to another edition of Spotlight, today on the North Moravian city of Ostrava, which is the third largest in the Czech Republic.

I am currently standing on one of the city's main bridges over the Ostravice River, dividing the city into Ostrava in Moravia and Ostrava in Silesia. As you may have guessed, the city was named after the Ostravice River, which used to be called Ostrava and means "rough water". At the end of the bridge on the Silesian side, stands a memorial to a man named Milos Sykora. Apparently, just before Soviet tanks came to liberate Ostrava in 1945, the Germans put explosives under the bridge in order to blow it up when the enemy nears. Milos Sykora, who was an ordinary blue-collar worker, was given the task to cut the cables leading to the explosives. He was successful. However, when he tried to hide in a nearby building, he failed. The Germans saw him and shot him. Hence, the memorial.

"My name is Michael and I work here in the Ostrava information centre. I would say that Ostrava has changed very much. It's getting better and better because mining is no longer the main industry. All the factories are closed now so we have fresh air and Ostrava is not the dirty grey city as it was known for the past years. There are many things to see. I would recommend the New City Hall, where there is a viewing tower from which you can see Ostrava and also the Ostrava museum, for example, and there is a special mining museum, which is very interesting for tourists."

A very interesting and special characteristic of Ostrava is its combination of the new and the old. Whilst development in its infrastructure and the city centre are clearly visible, the city authorities have made it a point to remind Ostrava's inhabitants of the important industrial role their city once played in the past. With thriving steel and mining industry, it was known as the "steel heart" of the country for many decades. It was not until 1994 that most industrial plants were shut down and all the city's collieries were closed. This has affected the living conditions of its inhabitants as thousands of former miners and steelworkers had to be re-qualified. Although no longer open, most collieries have been kept in their former places. Walking through the city, you therefore not only see re-constructed buildings, shops, and parks but are also overwhelmed by the numerous mining towers that rise above the city's horizon. Otto Plasek used to work at the Michal Colliery as a geologist from 1962 to 1990. Today, the authentically preserved colliery is the city's only national cultural heritage site:

"The Michal mine was reconstructed from 1912 to 1915. The buildings we see here today date from that time. The site still houses the most important exhibits from the Ostrava and Karvina mines - the winding gear, the main building, the machinery room, workshops, the furnace room, the sorting plant, changing room and shower area, lamp-rooms and offices. The exhibits include classic examples of heavy machine industry. The mine was modernised in 1927, after which it became the most modern and progressive mining operation of its time."

One of Ostrava's newer attractions, however, is the phenomenal Stodolni street. Lined with pubs, clubs, cafes, and restaurants, it attracts thousands of Czechs, Poles, and Slovaks weekly. Whilst the street looks like part of a ghost town during the day, it is packed with people at night... and it was in one of the clubs on a busy Saturday night that I found Ales Durka, thanks to whom Stodolni street is what it is today. I asked him to start by telling me how it all began:

"Well, let me tell you something of the history of Stodolni street. It started back in 1995 when the first clubs opened here. Suddenly, people started coming, and nobody knew why. Rent was quite low at the time and increased the popularity of this place."

So how many people visit it over the week-end?

"After five years of the beginning of the street, I believe that we can see over ten thousand people coming by and going from one club to another. What makes it different from other cities such as Prague or Brno is that you have everything in one little spot and it offers a variety of clubs with different interiors, different kinds of drinks, and different kinds of music. But the street mainly consists of the small clubs."

Stodolni street has become quite popular not just in this region but throughout the country. So where are most of the visitors from?

"Lately, you see people coming from different countries but the most foreign visitors come from Poland or Slovakia. You can also see some other people from Denmark or from England but they are working here and know that this place is where to go in the evenings so they come and have fun here. But we expect that soon when the highway will be ready, there will be more people coming from the south such as from Brno, Austria, and so on."

Club owners on this street make sure that information gets out past Ostrava. How is that done?

"My friend and I have registered a domain called www.stodolni.cz, which has become very popular over the last year and that is because it has a very nice virtual guide of the street, which shows the density of the clubs and on this web page you can click on each club to find all the necessary information. There is a special programme through which each owner, by entering a special password, can add their own information. This page sort of works like a medium where you can find everything under one address and it became very popular not only among the visitors but also among the owners of the club. It is easier for them to be part of the system than to have to start fifty different web pages with nobody ever knowing about them. I think the name of the Stodolni street is quite strong and helps them to get their names out."

But while Stodolni street mainly attracts the younger generations, it is the new City Hall viewing tower that attracts tourists of all ages:

"My name is Vendula Kubacakova and I work as a guide at the viewing tower in Ostrava. This tower is very popular. About twenty thousand people came here last year and this year there have been about thirty thousand visitors already."

And what exactly can you see from the tower?

"You can see the whole city with some interesting architectural objects such as castles, churches but also beautiful nature because Ostrava is a green town full of trees. You can also see the Beskydy Mountains and when there are good conditions for viewing, you can also see the borders with Poland. The nearest are about 15km far. You can also see the Cathedral of the Divine Saviour, which is the second biggest cathedral in Moravia."