The blast furnace in the Lower Vítkovice area will receive a three-story extension

Ostrava - The historic protected Blast Furnace No. 1 in the Lower Vítkovice area in Ostrava will receive a three-story extension. This will increase the more than sixty-meter structure, which offers visitors not only education about the history of Ostrava's industry but also a view of the city, by an additional 27 meters. This was stated today by Eva Kijonková from the Lower Vítkovice Association.
The extension will begin construction at the end of this season. "Preparatory and construction work will start as early as April," said Kijonková. The three floors of the extension will be glass-enclosed and will include classrooms and a small club for visitors who pass through the educational route. It will also feature an atypical viewpoint of Ostrava.
Kijonková noted that the extension will, among other things, realize a constructivist dream. "It will be an architectural symbol of fire, which always flared above the furnace when a lot of blast furnace gas was produced," she stated.
The main tourist season began today in Vítkovice and also at the mining museum area in Landek in Ostrava-Petřkovice. During this season, several music festivals will take place in the Lower Vítkovice area: the largest Czech dance festival Beats for Love at the beginning of July, the traditional Colours of Ostrava in mid-July, and the rock festival Ostrava in Flames in August. "Newly, an opera Nabucco will be staged here in the open air," said Petr Koudela, director of the Lower Vítkovice Association.
Visitors to the area can enjoy not only the tour of the blast furnace or the interactive exhibition in the Little World of Technology in U6 but also a guided tour of the multifunctional hall Gong. Quizzes will be prepared for children and parents there. "The guided tours will lead through all the halls and classrooms to the backstage and technical facilities, which ordinary visitors normally cannot access," Kijonková said.