Ostrava - Main Sights

Main Sights

While Ostrava is usually not in the top ten list of tourist attractions of the Czech Republic, there are a number of interesting places to see and things to do there.

Some technical landmarks, such as Lower Vítkovice Area, the Michal Mine, and/or Landek Park, with its Mining Museum exhibition, have no match within the entire Czech Republic.

Another attraction, which is becoming more and more popular mainly among young people, is Stodolní Street (Stodolní ulice), actually a collection of streets just next to the center, full of bars, pubs and clubs, bringing night-life to the city and thousands of visitors all year long. There are currently around 60 places to have a drink or dance on this street, each with its own style and atmosphere. There are a few bigger events at this area throughout the year, the largest of which is the Colours of Ostrava a summer music festival hosting many musicians and groups from all over the world.

The New City Hall Viewing Tower provides visitors a panoramic view of the city and surroundings from a height of about 72 m (236 ft). In clear weather, the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and Jeseníky mountain ranges are visible.

The Silesian Ostrava Castle is one of the city's most historic cultural monuments. The castle was built in the eighties and nineties of the 13th century. In 1534, the gothic castle was rebuilt into a renaissance chateau. It was restored recently after many years of dilapidation caused by coal mining under the castle. Today, the castle is one of the most important tourist attraction of the city. It hosted the Colours of Ostrava music festival in 2007.

The Ostrava ZOO was founded in 1949 and officially opened in 1951; the zoo originally had only eight animals: three roes and five pheasants. Since that time, it has expanded to include 230 species of animals and, after relocation in 1956 to its current place, has grown from its original 0, 5 km2 to 3 km2 today. The most favourite children attraction is called Petting Zoo, where children could go right to the exhibition with goats and sheep. Every day, people can go to watch special commented feedings of animals, where a worker feeds an animal and talk about the animal and answer people’s question. The 230 species are housed in outdoor and indoor exhibits which include: African mammal house, monkey house, elephant house, 3 aviaries for birds, small Amazonia, hippo house. The Ostrava zoo was the first in the Czech Republic to see the birth of an elephant. Two elephants were born in 2011. The elder, a male named Sethi, died after a two months. The second one, a female named Rashmi, has flourished and can be visited in the elephant pavilion.

The Miniuni is a collection of over thirty 1:25 models of Europe's prominent edifices spreading across a 1.5ha area. Some of the exhibits are Prague's Old Town Hall, London's Big Ben, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and a dominant 12m tall Eiffel Tower. The exhibition also features the Seven World Wonders and the World's Skyscrapers. Railways with model trains and water canals with model steamers add extra fun.

The Ostrava museum was established by merging three older local museums in the Old Post-Office building after World War One. Since 1931 it occupies the Old Town Hall in Masaryk Square, the oldest existing example of original historic architecture typical of Ostrava's city core. On display are local history of Ostrava and a couple of other theme shows. Its singular feature and pride item is the 225 cm (88.58 in) tall indoor astronomical clock called the Mašek Clock. It boasts 51 different functional features and consists of four dials: clock, calendar, astronomical and planetary dials.

The Fire-fighting Museum' building has been dedicated to fire-fighting since its completion in 1905. The exhibition features seven sections showing models of fire trucks and other fire-fighting hardware; model situations like fire, leaks of dangerous substances and traffic accidents; an exhibition of history and development of fire-fighting techniques and technology; breathing apparatuses and personal protection gear for chemical accident operations. Video features and documentaries show and explain the Whats and Whys of a fireman's job.

In the Ostravar brewery, an excursion route has been traced for visitors, who will be able to learn interesting things about the brewing of the Czech national drink. At the end of the route, visitors can taste their favourite brew. A great attraction of the Museum is a tap bar that is more than 60 years old. In addition to the tap-room, visitors can see a number of other interesting objects linked with brewing. There are, for example, specimens of barrels with illustrations of how they were made, transport glasses dating from the 1920s and 1930s and a historical barrelhead. All this is accompanied by historical photographs and labels.

The Ema Heap, made up of dirt, or mining waste material, from The Trinity Colliery, is now a favourite Sunday trip destination. It is 82 ha large and contains some 4 mil. cube meters of dirt. Spontaneous ignition appeared deep in its bowels in the 1960s and the invisible fire still keeps burning. Inside temperature reaches up to 1,500 °C (2,732 °F) creating suitable habitats for steppe species of fauna and flora along the dump limits. Extreme temperature produces rare minerals inside this man-made singularity of nature. Visitors should follow the marked yellow path.