Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the largest urban area at the meeting point of three countries: the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The city has a rather special position within the Czech Republic. In previous decades, it used to be known as the steel heart" of the republic: the city was perceived as inhospitable, dirty, and full of rude and hard working people. But this has not always been the case: over the course of Ostrava's history, it has also been a commercial centre and an important transport hub. In recent years, few towns in the Czech Republic have undergone such an enormous transformation as Ostrava, and this has not only affected the living conditions of its people. Work in many industrial plants has been stopped; the last coal was mined on 30 June 1994 and all the city's collieries have now been closed. Thousands of miners and steelworkers have requalified and found work in other branches of industry. Special filters have been installed to limit air pollution. Banking and service industries have also been developing very quickly.

Blast furnaces of Vítkovice Iron and Steel Works, Ostrava, Czech Republic. This site has been declared an Industrial Heritage Site by the Ministry of Culture and is a unique example of industrial architecture from the first half of the 19th century. The site was occupied by a puddle furnace from 1828. It was founded by archduke Rudolf and was the first one of its kind in the entire Austrian Empire. The first blast furnace began production in 1836, and the Hlubina coal mine was opened in 1843. Soon the site provided for an entire industrial process from start to finish, from the mining of coal as a raw material, through the manufacture of coke, to its use in the production of iron.This continued uninterrupted until 1998.