Photo: Anton Kajmakov, Radio Prague International
Ostrava has – or at least it did until pretty recently – a reputation for being ugly and polluted. Formerly known as the “steel heart” of the Czech Republic, it was a centre of mining and heavy industry for two centuries. After its plants and collieries shut down following the Velvet Revolution, for a while it looked like Ostrava might suffer from the urban decay that many former mining and industrial towns underwent once they lost the industries that had made them rich and employed so many. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Ostrava underwent a fairly rapid transformation, both economically and culturally.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Patrik Rozehnal, Romana Kubicová, Daniela Lazarová, Libor Kukal, Sources: iROZHLAS.cz, Radio Prague International