Inside the Rudý říjen II mine, Ostrava-Heřmanice

Okrašlovací spolek Za krásnou Ostravu — the civic beautification society of Ostrava — runs a year-round programme of guided walks, field lectures and public debates on the city’s architecture, industry and landscape, published together with Klub Fiducia. This one goes into the grounds of a closed coal mine.

The winding tower of the Rudý říjen II mine was the landmark of the Ostrava-Heřmanice district, and at the same time the emblem of VOKD, the company that built the pits of the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield. Founded during the war years, the mine’s history is closely bound to the neighbouring Ida mine in Hrušov; its extraction area had a complicated geological structure that made ordinary working difficult. Beside it stood one of the central spoil heaps of the coalfield — the Heřmanice heap — and the Heřmanice pond, into which salt water was pumped from the working mines of the Ostrava part of the field. The walk asks how the mine began, why its development was halted altogether in the 1960s, and why it was then resumed.

Practical details

• When: 27 August 2026, 18:00
• Where: meeting at the Důl Heřmanice trolleybus stop, Ostrava-Heřmanice
• Guides: Petr Kubinský, historian of mining in the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield, and Kateřina Polínková, geologist
• Bring: the organisers recommend sturdy shoes, a hat and something to drink
• Programme language: the programme and the walk are published in Czech
• Organiser: Okrašlovací spolek Za krásnou Ostravu, with Klub Fiducia

Full details and the rest of the programme are on Klub Fiducia’s own site. Cultural Heritage Online lists this walk for readers interested in the industrial heritage of Ostrava; booking and any changes are handled directly by the organiser.