Ostrava
city in Czechia
Ostrava (Czech pronunciation: [ˈostrava] ; Polish: Ostrawa Polish pronunciation: [ɔsˈtra.va] ; German: Ostrau) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 281,000 inhabitants. It lies near the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava, Ostravice and Lučina. Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic in terms of both population and area, the second largest city in the region of Moravia, and the largest city in the historical land of Czech Silesia. It straddles the border of the two historic lands of Moravia and Silesia. The wider conurbation — which also includes the towns of Bohumín, Havířov, Karviná, Orlová, Petřvald and Rychvald — is home to about 500,000 people, making it the largest urban area in the Czech Republic apart from the capital Prague.
Ostrava grew in importance due to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial engine of the Austrian empire. During the 20th century it was known as the "steel heart" of Czechoslovakia thanks to its status as a coal-mining and metallurgical centre, but since the Velvet Revolution (the fall of communism in 1989) it has undergone radical and far-reaching changes to its economic base. Industries have been thoroughly restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. However, remnants of the city's industrial past are visible in the Lower Vítkovice area, a former coal-mining, coke production and ironworks complex in the city centre which retains its historic industrial architecture.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ostrava” as city in Czechia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Czechia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8385. VIAF identifies the subject as 132493236. Authority coordinates are 49.836, 18.293. 6 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989 and 1994.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ostrava”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ostrava primary sources, Ostrava archive and Ostrava research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ostrava”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ostrava” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.