Ostrava: from steel to industrial culture

The Dolní Vítkovice complex, a former steel mill shut down in the 1990s, today hosts concerts, exhibitions, and events within its converted blast furnaces.

Climbing the panoramic tower of one of the blast furnaces, you observe from above the entire city and the hills of surrounding Silesia, dotted with other decommissioned industrial plants.

In the historic center, the Masaryk Square, surrounded by Baroque and Renaissance palaces, starkly contrasts with the industrial landscape of the suburbs, almost belonging to another city.

Towards evening, the New Town Hall, with its tower eighty-five meters high, offers another panoramic view over the mining city.

The blast furnaces of Dolní Vítkovice, permanently shut down in 1998 after over a century of operation, are now protected industrial heritage rather than mere ruins for demolition.

Ostrava hosts one of the Czech Republic's major music festivals every summer right within the converted industrial area, bringing tens of thousands of visitors among the old mining structures.