Return Ostrava - history
 
400,000 – 150,000 years ago Ice Age – Scandinavian ice sheet
from prehistoric times ‘Amber Route’ – trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean
around 25,000 years ago first permanent settlement by mammoth-hunters (‘Landek Venus’ carved stone figurine);
according to archeological excavations, this was the first location where people used coal for heating
from the 8th century Slavic settlements
10th century Holasice hill-fort
1267 first written mention of Moravian Ostrava in the will of Bruno, Archbishop of Olomouc (1245-1281)
before 1279 Moravian Ostrava granted town status, first written documents of the church of St Wenceslas
1297 first written mention of the Silesian Ostrava castle
1362 Charles IV grants the right to hold annual markets
1371-1376 town walls built
1428 town occupied by Hussites
1437-1848 Ostrava part of the Hukvaldy estates
16th century development of trades, especially drapery, weaving, tailoring and butchery
1539 first written mention of the old town hall
1556 the biggest fire in Ostrava’s history destroys almost all of the houses on the square
1618-1648 Thirty Years’ War – Danish (1626) and Swedish troops (1642-1650)
1625 plague claims the lives of around 500 people – almost half of the population
1747 first post office set up in Ostrava
1763 discovery of coal (Burňa valley)
1828 foundation of ironworks – Rudolf Ironworks, later renamed Vítkovice Ironworks
1847 railway link with Vienna and Krakow (Northern Ferdinand Railway)
1869 first gasworks and telegraph station
2nd half of 19th century development of industry – Ostrava becomes the industrial powerhouse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
1879 synagogue built
1880 extensive flooding on the Odra and Ostravice rivers (entire surrounding area flooded)
1889 Basilica of the Holy Saviour completed
1894 opening of the Czech National Centre (a cultural centre for the Czech community), city transport system set up
1895 opening of the German National Centre (a cultural centre for the German community), first power station in the Ostrava area built
1897 first Czech grammar school opened
1898 public library and reading room opened
1900 opening of the Polish National Centre (a cultural centre for the Polish community)
1903 opening of the ‘Workers’ Centre’ in Vítkovice
1907 building of the city theatre (German-language), now the Antonín Dvořák Theatre
1919 National Theatre of Moravia-Silesia
1924 establishment of ‘Greater Ostrava’ – Moravian Ostrava is merged with 6 municipalities to create an extensive metropolitan area
1926 art gallery built
1929 Ostrava studio of Czech public radio opened
20. - 30. léta 20. stol. department stores Brouk & Babka, Bachner
1930 New City Hall built
1929-1934 Great Depression
1939 14th March – Ostrava occupied by German troops; October – first transport of Jews to the ‘re-education’ camp in Nisko nad Sanem (Poland)
1939-1945 Second World War, 30 April 1945 liberation of Ostrava
1941 administrative consolidation continues – 8 Silesian and 4 Moravian municipalities are attached to Moravian Ostrava
1945 Technical University of Mining (Vysoká škola báňská) relocated to Ostrava from Příbram in Bohemia
1949-1951 construction of Nová Huť steelworks
1953 foundation of the Higher Music Teaching College in Ostrava; from 1959 Conservatory; from 1996 Janáček Conservatory
1953 foundation of Puppet Theatre
1954 foundation of Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (musicians from the radio orchestra)
31. 12. 1955 Ostrava studio of Czech Television begins broadcasting – the second TV studio in the country
1959 Faculty of Education, from 1991 University of Ostrava
1959 new airport in Mošnov
1961 opening of the Vítkovice Cultural Centre, today the City of Ostrava Cultural Centre
1976 completion of administrative consolidation and integration (33 outlying municipalities were merged with Moravian Ostrava between 1924 and 1976)
1986 opening of the ‘Palace of Culture and Sport’; now ČEZ Arena
50. - 80. léta 20. stol. huge migration of workers to Ostrava, construction boom
1989 Velvet Revolution – the end of the megalomaniac expansion of the city
30. 6. 1994 the last coal is mined in Ostrava
1. 9. 1996 seat of the Ostrava-Opava bishopric
7. - 9. 7. 1997 1000-year flood on the Odra, Opava and Ostravice rivers (flooding affects the whole of Moravia)
27. 9. 1998 after 162 years, iron production in Vítkovice is stopped
2000 foundation of first private university
2005 first international primary school with English as the teaching medium

Source: www.ostravainfo.cz