Current Time in Ostrava, Czechia

Ostrava is the third largest city in Czechia and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region, lying in the north-east of the country close to the Polish border and not far from Slovakia. It stands where four rivers meet, the Odra, Opava, Ostravice and Lučina, in a broad basin between the Beskydy mountains to the south and the Silesian lowlands to the north. The Ostravice historically divided Moravia from Silesia, and the city grew up on both banks.

Around two hundred and eighty thousand people live here, with roughly a million in the wider metropolitan area. Ostrava was for a century and a half the industrial powerhouse of the country, built on rich seams of black coal and on the iron and steel works that consumed them. The last mine within the city closed in 1994, and the economy has since shifted decisively towards engineering, automotive suppliers, chemicals, information technology, business services and research, while the abandoned industrial sites have been imaginatively reused.

A settlement existed here in the Middle Ages, guarding a branch of the Amber Road, and the town received its charter in the fourteenth century. Everything changed after coal was discovered in the 1760s. The Rothschild family founded the Vítkovice ironworks in 1828, mine shafts multiplied, and Ostrava swelled with workers from Moravia, Silesia, Galicia and beyond, earning the nickname the steel heart of the republic. The communist decades brought further heavy expansion and severe pollution, followed after 1989 by painful restructuring, and the air and rivers are far cleaner today.

The most remarkable sight is Dolní Vítkovice, a preserved complex of blast furnaces, coking plant and gasholder that has been converted into a cultural and science district. Visitors can climb the Bolt Tower above a furnace for panoramic views, explore an interactive science centre in the old power station and attend concerts in the striking Gong auditorium. Landek Park, in a former mine on the northern edge, offers underground tours led by retired miners and is the largest mining museum in the country. Elsewhere, the New Town Hall carries the tallest town hall tower in Czechia with an observation deck, Silesian Ostrava Castle guards the river, and Masaryk Square anchors a handsome centre of Art Nouveau and functionalist architecture.

Ostrava has a lively reputation. Stodolní Street is famous nationwide for its dense concentration of bars and clubs, and the Colours of Ostrava festival, held each summer among the industrial monuments of Dolní Vítkovice, is one of the biggest music events in Central Europe. The Janáček Philharmonic, the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre and a strong local dialect and sense of humour round out the picture.

The city has an international airport named after Leoš Janáček, fast rail links to Prague, Vienna, Warsaw and Bratislava, and an extensive tram, trolleybus and bus network. The Technical University of Ostrava and the University of Ostrava together host tens of thousands of students.

Ostrava is celebrated as an industrial city that reinvented itself into a centre of culture and innovation.