Trips

Discover interesting places in the area

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Ostrá hůrka Memorial, Háj ve Slezsku

The hill above Háj, marked on maps as point 317 and traditionally called “Hůrka” or “Ostrá hůrka”, served in the past as a lookout hill. In modern history it became famous mainly as the site of mass gatherings of Silesian people during the Silesian national revival. The first such gathering took place on 12 September 1869, when around 15,000 Silesians met here to express their support for unity with Moravia and demand Czech-language schooling. Over the next hundred years several further gatherings were held. In September 1929 a granite memorial to the Silesian resistance was unveiled here, but it was destroyed by fascists in December 1938. A new memorial was unveiled in September 1969 to mark the 100th anniversary of the first gathering. The most recent gathering took place in 1990, organised by the renewed Silesian Matice to demonstrate Silesians’ interest in building a democratic state. In 1993 the memorial was supplemented with a plaque dedicated to Silesian prisoners, and in 2004 the sarcophagus was restored and filled with soil and artefacts from battlefields of both world wars, execution grounds and concentration camps, along with period documents. An educational trail (Padařov) runs around the memorial.

Source: opavske-slezsko.cz

Smolkov Artillery Fortress

The Smolkov Artillery Fortress formed part of a line of mutually supporting heavy concrete fortifications built to protect the important industrial region and transport hub of the Ostrava area. This defensive line was created in response to the military threat from Nazi Germany in the mid‑1930s. Its task was to compensate for the armament and numerical superiority of the German army and to repel or at least delay a possible attack. On the hill above Smolkov, one of only five artillery fortresses completed in Czechoslovakia was built between 1936 and 1938. The large complex consists of five separate bunkers connected by underground tunnels. Construction was completed in October 1938 and most interior equipment had already been installed. The fortress was designed for a garrison of 394 men, able to hold out underground for several months. Today, the underground areas are used by the Czech Army, while the surface of the individual objects, except for the entrance bunker, is freely accessible. A marked green tourist trail passes close to the fortress.

Zdroj: opavske-slezsko.cz

National World War II Memorial in Hrabyně

The National World War II Memorial in Hrabyně, part of the Silesian Museum, presents both culture and civilian life as well as wartime production during the Protectorate. The exhibition is based mainly on authentic personal belongings, uniforms and equipment donated by direct participants in the fighting on all major fronts. It also has a multimedia character, with more than ten information kiosks where visitors can browse many period photographs and documents. In the newly renovated administrative building there are exhibition areas, a conference hall, study room and restaurant. The exhibition spaces present military topics, as does the vestibule area. In front of the building there is a large ceremonial square, and the memorial can also be reached via a lime‑tree avenue; nearby you can see historic military vehicles and equipment. Originally the memorial served purely as a site of remembrance rather than a museum; in 2000 it was declared the National World War II Memorial of the Czech Republic.

Zdroj: kudyznudy.cz, szm.cz

Kozmice Bird Meadows

The Kozmice Bird Meadows form an area of continuous floodplain meadows along the River Opava between the towns of Opava and Ostrava, at an altitude of 219–220 m. The project has restored natural conditions to land previously degraded by drainage. The site allows birdwatching throughout the breeding season and during spring and autumn migration from a bird hide. It is not only home to many bird species; there is also a strong population of the rare spined loach (Misgurnus fossilis), the dusky large blue butterfly (Maculinea nausithous), and many species of amphibians and reptiles. From April to August the meadows gradually come into bloom, with carpets of ragged‑robin (Lychnis flos‑cuculi), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), bistort (Bistorta major), great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense), yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and many other plants. Exmoor ponies graze the grasses and help maintain the site and its rich nectar‑bearing flora and associated fauna. Insects benefit not only from the vegetation but also from the presence of untreated horse dung. The ponies’ hooves break up the turf and create open patches where weaker and often rare or endangered plant species, including orchids, can establish. These open spots are also used as nesting sites by birds such as lapwings, redshank and other waders.

Zdroj: natura.semix.cz

Kravaře Chateau

Kravaře Chateau lies on the south‑eastern edge of the town of Kravaře and is surrounded by a large park, much of which is now used as a golf course. The chateau is an important example of baroque architecture in Silesia and today belongs to the town and houses the Chateau Museum. Around the chateau stretches a historic English‑style park of 21 hectares with ponds, streams and romantic views of the building. In front of the chateau is a formally arranged French garden, giving way to the landscape‑style English park of 21 hectares with ponds, brooks and vistas of the chateau. The park was created on the site of the original floodplain forest during the baroque rebuilding in the 18th century. Today a large part serves as an 18‑hole golf course. Almost one hundred species and forms of trees and shrubs grow here, some of them rare specimens more than 200 years old.

Zdroj: kravare.cz, opavske-slezsko.cz

Czechoslovak Fortification Area Darkovičky

This fortification area is now a highly regarded European‑level presentation of the unique Czechoslovak defence system built between 1935 and 1938. It consists of infantry bunkers MO‑S 18, MO‑S 19, MO‑S 20 and a light fortification LO model 37A. The bunkers illustrate differences in design, firepower, tactical use and levels of resistance. The Hlučín–Darkovičky Czechoslovak Fortification Area was incorporated into the Silesian Museum in 1992, although restoration work had been under way since 1980, when a working group within the then Museum of Revolutionary Struggles and Liberation in Ostrava began selecting and restoring several bunkers to their 1938 state. Today the area is also part of the regional TECHNO TRAIL, which links important industrial and technical monuments in the Moravian‑Silesian Region.

Zdroj: szm.cz

Silesian Museum

The Silesian Museum is considered the symbolic gateway to Silesia. Its scope ranges from living and non‑living nature through prehistory and history to the history of art, with a focus on Czech Silesia and northern and north‑eastern Moravia. Founded in 1814, it is the oldest museum in the Czech Republic and operates as a contributory organisation of the Ministry of Culture. With around 2,400,000 collection items, it is also the third largest museum in the country.

Zdroj: szm.cz

Hradec nad Moravicí Chateau

The state chateau Hradec nad Moravicí was declared a national cultural monument in 2002 and is a popular tourist destination and cultural centre of the Opava region. The White Chateau offers visitors two guided tours, a separate historical exhibition and an art gallery; the main tour also runs through the restored north wing with seven reconstructed rooms of the princely apartment. The complex also includes the neo‑Gothic Red Chateau and the White Tower. The whole site is set in a large landscape park, the largest of its kind in the Moravian‑Silesian Region. Unlike many others, the park is not a closed area but opens freely into the surrounding countryside. A marked walking route, the Lichnovský Hunting Trail, leads through the park and the surrounding primeval‑like beech forests.

Zdroj: kudyznudy.cz

Arboretum Nový Dvůr

The Nový Dvůr Arboretum was established in 1958 on the site of one of the most valuable historic parks in Silesia. Today it is part of the Silesian Museum, whose founder is the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. Visitors can see a rich dendrological collection with trees and plants from five continents. Around 7,000 species of plants, trees and herbs grow here, including varieties, cultivars and garden forms. You can explore heather and bog vegetation, plants of coastal sand dunes, Himalayan species, collections of woody plants from China, the Far East and Japan, and extensive collections from the eastern and western coasts and the Midwest of North America. The arboretum is famous for its large collection of rhododendrons, one of the richest in the Czech Republic. The displays also include giant “mammoth trees” (sequoias), bristlecone pines from Arizona that can reach ages of over 4,000 years in their native habitat, and the ancient ginkgo – a sacred, medicinal “living fossil” dating back to the age of dinosaurs.

Zdroj: www.szm.cz