Lower Vitkovice
Former ironworks turned cultural quarter, with blast furnace tours, the Bolt Tower and the Gong hall.
Iron was made on this site from 1828, when the Rudolf Ironworks were founded, until the last blast furnace was banked in 1998. Coal was mined next door at the Hlubina pit, so ore, coke and pig iron were handled within a single continuous complex, something unusual in Europe. The area was declared a national cultural monument and now forms a cultural and educational quarter of some sixty hectares on the southern edge of central Ostrava.
Conversion has been led by the architect Josef Pleskot and his AP Atelier. A derelict gasholder became the Gong, a conference hall and auditorium for about 1,500 people, while Blast Furnace No. 1 was capped in 2015 by the Bolt Tower, a spiral steel superstructure that lifts the ensemble to roughly 78 metres and holds a cafe and viewing deck. Guided tours climb through the furnace, the casting platform and the control room, and the site also hosts a science centre and the Colours of Ostrava festival.
Highlights
- Blast Furnace No. 1 tour with an ore lift and a bridge 70 metres up
- Bolt Tower by Josef Pleskot, added to the furnace in 2015
- The Gong, a gasholder converted into a 1,500-seat hall
- Ironworks site worked continuously from 1828 until 1998
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
