The youngest city in Czechoslovakia.

OSTRAVA (Czech Republic); CZECHOSLOVAKIA

The post-war atmosphere in Czechoslovakia, the rejection of economic aid from the West and the preference for an orientation towards the East foreshadowed the development of construction and architecture, which was particularly evident in the economically developed border areas of the country, for example in the industrial region of Ostrava. The concentration of coal mines and steel mills was an ideal place to build new towns for the newly arriving heavy industry workers. The newly built satellite estates of Ostrava attracted modern and healthy housing ideal for daily relaxation and entertainments. The proximity of the water reservoirs Žermanice and Těrlicko in the foothills of the Beskydy Mountains offered suitable facilities for recreation. Havířov was one of the satellites, which was declared an independent town in 1955 due to its larger size. The name of the town Havířov was chosen in a national competition and can simply be translated as the town of the havirians (coal miners). Havířov was indeed the youngest town. Both in the year of its foundation and in the average age of its inhabitants. The town developed along the original imperial road connecting two duchies – Opava and Těšín. Along this historical axis we can trace the development of buildings and the change of architectural styles throughout the second half of the 20th century. The growth of Havířov into a city of nearly 100,000 people was reflected not only in the need for new housing, but also in the need for public amenities – schools, community centres, department stores and railway and bus stations. The significance of the town and the whole region is written into the architectural form of the settlement. Here we can encounter architecture from post-war functionalism through Stalinist socialist realism, Brussels modernism to Husák's prefabricated normalization. Havířov was one of the protégé cities of the past communist regime, whose planned construction was determined by the state's public interest in the development of the Ostrava-Karviná region. Social changes in the form of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and the loss of demand for heavy industry came as a shock to the region, which it has been struggling to cope with for three decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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