Return Ostrava walks
The route of utopian dreams (Ostrava-Poruba)

Length: approx. 3000 m
Time: approx. 60 min.

Tram stop ‘Vozovna Poruba’ – Porubská street – Hlavní třída – Alšovo náměstí – Alšova street – Matěje Kopeckého street – Čs. exilu street – Urxova street – Budovatelská street – Nábřeží Svazu protifašistických bojovníků – Triumphal arch – Porubská street

During the 1950s, the communist government of Czechoslovakia decided to build an entirely new Ostrava, far away from the factories and – above all – miles away from the modern ‘bourgeois’ architecture of the city centre. The new district of Poruba consisted of vast, pompous, monumental apartment blocks lining the main avenue (sorry, Lenin Avenue) in the style of socialist realism, and were meant to showcase the progress made by the socialist regime. The Poruba district is packed full of the typical features of this period of megalomaniac building – balustrades, pilasters, columns, sgraffito decorations, Ionic orders, and a multitude of statues depicting pioneers (the official communist youth movement), miners, steel-workers and happy smiling children. This is a must for the visitor to Ostrava. For the real Poruba experience, you have to look upwards - and you may be pleasantly surprised.


1. From the tram to ‘Lenin Avenue’.
After getting out of the tram at the ‘Vozovna Poruba’ stop (coming from the city centre), turn left and cross the main road. Continue along Porubská street. On one side of the road you will see two identical schools, on the other side the ice stadium. When you come to the large roundabout, you have reached the main avenue (Hlavní třida).
2. Hlavní třída (‘Main Avenue’, formerly Lenin Avenue)
This wide boulevard has two lanes of traffic in each direction, separated by an avenue of trees with a cycle path and plenty of benches. The entrance to the upper section of the avenue is guarded by two large blocks designed by the architect Boris Yelchaninov. It is hard to believe that the buildings only date back to the 1950s, and not to the period of Classicism or the Renaissance. The façades are decorated with Ionic capitals, and the building on the left is decorated with statues representing allegories of Industry and Agriculture.
 3. House signs
Both sides of the main avenue are lined with imposing apartment blocks, with shops on the ground floor. Look out for the details: columns, balustrades, sgraffito decorations, embossed relief décor, tall arches leading through to the garden areas behind the blocks. Above some doorways there are pictorial house signs, in a pastiche of the medieval style.
4. Alšovo náměstí square
On the right hand side of the square, you can stop for a coffee and watch the world go by through the panoramic windows. Back in the communist days, you could read the official newspaper Rudé právo (‘Red Justice’) and have a grainy coffee with whipped cream. And not much has changed since those days – though the newspapers are different and you can now get a proper espresso. On the left hand side of the square there is a statue of a steel-worker by Antonín Ivánský. The Poruba statue has a ‘brother’ in the city centre, which is the work of the same sculptor. Ivánský was also responsible for the huge statue of Lenin which used to stand on the roundabout at the lower end of the main avenue – but perhaps it’s best that he’s no longer there.
5. Treasure?
In the old days, most people in Ostrava worked for one of three companies. Each of these industrial giants built its own cultural and community centre for the workers. The Vítkovice Ironworks built a huge centre in Moravian Ostrava, the Nová Huť steelworks had a centre in the Zábřeh district, and the Poruba cultural centre – now known as ‘Poklad’ (meaning ‘Treasure’) was built by the Ostrava-Karviná Mining Corporation.
 6. Bored pioneers
Go through the passageway in this house and when you get to the other side, turn round. On the railings of a balcony are statues of four children – two boys and two girls – wearing the uniforms of the ‘pioneers’ (the communist youth movement). Each is holding a different object (a ball, a book, a model plane and a flower). If you look closely at their faces, you will see that they are pretty bored with their toys.
 7. Nábřeží Svazu protifašistických bojovníků (Embankment of the Association of Anti-Fascist Fighters)
You have gone through various passageways and back yards to reach this street, which proudly bears the title ‘embankment’. But however hard you look, you probably won’t be able to see a river. What is going on? Just close your eyes and travel back in time … “We will build a huge waterway linking the rivers Odra, Danube and Labe. Some of the waters from the Odra will be channelled through an artificial waterway which will be as wide as the Volga. Upon the surface of this new river will be reflected the grand palaces of the proletariat in the new, socialist Ostrava.” That’s how Poruba came to have an ‘embankment’ – but the comrades never actually got around to building the canal.

8. Triumphal Arch (‘Oblouk’)
From the ‘embankment’ it is just a short walk to the triumphal arch (‘Oblouk’). This huge structure has two smaller arches over the roadway and a gigantic monumental tower. It was originally intended to form the gateway to the new town. The architect Evžen Šteflíček was inspired by the Palace Square in St Petersburg (Leningrad). However, whereas the arch in St Petersburg has a triumphal horse-drawn chariot, the arch in Poruba is topped by an embossed relief by V. Šantrůček depicting workers leaving for work and coming home again. There is one more point of interest – from the air the arch building looks like a sickle, and the streets under it have the shape of a hammer.

9. The towers
The best-known building in Porubská street is the work of the architect Boris Yelchaninov. The sgraffito decorations by Ladislav Novák depict the four seasons, happy children playing, and a chilling inscription: ‘With fists of steel / With learning as your strength / Defend your rights / And world peace’. This building reveals more about the utopian dreams of communist ideology than hours of speeches made by politicians of the time. The architects working on the ‘New Ostrava’ project were not only inspired by Classicism and the Renaissance, but even went so far as to copy an entire building. The tower-like apartment block is an exact copy of the (no longer existing) U Lhotků building, which used to stand on Prague’s Wenceslas Square.