Ostrava

Ostrava {{Audio|Cs-Ostrava.ogg|listen}} (German: Ostrau, Polish: Ostrawa) is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is located at the junction of the Ostravice, Oder and Opava rivers. Its history and growth were largely affected by exploitation and further usage of the high quality black coal deposits discovered in the locality, giving the town a look of an industrial city and a nickname of the ?steel heart of the republic? during the communist era of Czechoslovakia. Many of the heavy industry companies are being closed down or transformed nowadays.

Other information

Ostrava is a twin town to these foreign towns and cities (the year the cooperation started is given in the parentheses and determines the ordering):

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• Volgograd, Russia, (1947)
• Coventry, United Kingdom, (1957)
• Katowice, Poland, (1960)
• Dresden, Germany, (1971)
• Split, Croatia, (1976)
• Pireus, Greece, (1997)
• Ko?ice, Slovakia, (2001)
• Miskolc, Hungary, (2001)
• Pittsburgh, USA, (2001)