Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Ghost of industrialisation (1): The heavy industry of Ostrava

Rust never sleeps


The Czech town of Ostrava sits on the coal deposit that stretches over the border to Poland and Slovakia. Already in the times of the Austro-Hungarian empire the first steel works and blast furnaces were established. Meanwhile most of the mines in the area and the heavy industry was closed down. The remainders, however, still dot the cityscape