Lower Vítkovice (Czech: ''Dolní oblast Vítkovice'') is a national site of industrial heritage located in the Vítkovice district of

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It includes an extensive industrial area Vítkovice ironworks with a unique collection of industrial architecture. A set of three successive parts - coal mine,

coke oven Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content. It is made by heating coal or petroleum in the absence of air. Coke is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ore smelting, but also as a fuel in stove ...

s and

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

operations - also called Ostravian Hradčany, after

Hradčany Hradčany (; ), is the district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic surrounding Prague Castle. The castle is one of the biggest in the world at about in length and an average of about wide. Its history stretches back to the 9th century. St ...

, the Castle District of Prague. The area is registered in the list of European cultural heritage, and was placed on the Czech Republic's list of tentative UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2001 under the name The Industrial Complexes at Ostrava.

History

The initial impetus for the establishment of the Vítkovice ironworks came Dec. 9, 1828 by

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

Archbishop Rudolf. Rudolph's Smelter operation was then launched in mid-September 1830. A year later there was a coke plant. The first blast furnace coke was ignited in 1836, the second two years later. In 1852, it was near the smelter based mine depths. As time was running six blast furnaces which were gradually shut down until September 27, 1998, when the last tapping.

Present

After termination of iron production was discussed what to do with the former industrial complex. At first they wanted to destroy it, but it was rebuilt as a technical monument for future generations. In June 2002 government declared Nether Vítkovice area as a national sight. In December 2008, then as one of four Czech sites given to emerging European cultural heritage site. In September 2009 the project was awarded to the recovery and reuse of blast furnaces and other protected buildings half billion Czech crowns subsidy from the European Union and the Czech Republic. The main objective of the project "Bringing a new use to Nether Vítkovice" reactivation of the main parts of a national cultural sight Vítkovice, making them accessible to the public and the subsequent use of the potential of NCS for educational, cultural and social activities. In 2012 was completed the first part of the project and made available to the three basic objects of national cultural sights, blast furnace no. 1, gas tank and building VI. Energy exchanges.

References

{{Coord, 49.820, 18.280, type:landmark_region:CZ-MO, display=title Ostrava-City District Ostrava