Svatopluk Čech Square and its surroundings

Svatopluk Čech Square and the streets of Ostrava's Přívoz district are excellent examples of Art Nouveau architecture. Walking through this part of Ostrava is like exploring old Vienna and no wonder - you are in the middle of the work of Viennese architect Camillo Sitte.

Camillo Sitte was given a task that today could be called a great challenge. At the end of the nineteenth century, he was not to build one building or just one street, but to create an entire master plan, in effect a whole new city. Přívoz was once a peaceful village that served to ferry merchants across the Odra River. It was only with the development of industry and especially the connection of Přívoz to the Ferdinand Northern Railway that the town of Přívoz began to emerge.

Sitte’s work is impressive. It is dominated by the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and the building of the town hall, which today houses the Ostrava archives. The centrepiece of the town is Svatopluk Čech Square with its facades bearing clear elements of Viennese Art Nouveau. The surrounding streets lead to Nádražní třída, which became the thoroughfare between the railway station and the centre of Moravská Ostrava more than a century ago. Similarly to Vienna, some of the streets form small squares and an interesting detail that has been preserved to this day are the turrets on the corners of all the streets.

The architect Sitte did not stop only in Přívoz, his work can also be found in another part of Ostrava, namely in Mariánské Hory, where he designed the Church of Our Lady Queen and a large part of the centre of this other district of Ostrava.

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