Photo exhibition presents contemporary Katowice – Ostrava’s partner city
The exhibition was officially opened by representatives of the leadership of both Katowice and Ostrava.
“I am very pleased that we can welcome the exhibition Katowice Today here at Ostrava City Hall and celebrate the anniversary of our long-standing partnership together. Both of our cities have had very similar destinies in modern history. Heavy industry played a key role in this story, based on coal mining and iron production—whether as a driver of social and economic development providing livelihoods for large numbers of residents, or later in the search for ways to reuse industrial heritage,” said Deputy Mayor Zbyněk Pražák. “This naturally meant that both regional capitals had to address similar challenges and later problems, which brought them closer together and encouraged mutual inspiration. The exhibition presented in the City Hall foyer is also evidence that Katowice, just like Ostrava, has managed to use the past thirty turbulent years to transform itself into a city with a new and promising future.”
Ten attractively designed photographic panels introduce visitors to the current face of Ostrava’s partner city. Katowice, the heart of the two-million-inhabitant Upper Silesian metropolitan area, has undergone rapid development over the past three decades—developments not unlike those experienced by Ostrava during the same period.
Jarosław Makowski, Deputy Mayor of Katowice, highlighted the scope of the mutual cooperation and expressed hope that the exhibition would spark interest in Katowice among the people of Ostrava: “This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Partnership Cooperation Agreement between Katowice and Ostrava. Looking back over the past three decades, it is clear that relations between the key centres of the Upper Silesian Metropolis and the Moravian-Silesian Region are very good. We are connected not only by a shared industrial history but also by similar challenges for the future. Our municipal administrations willingly exchange experiences and carry out joint projects. There are even several spectacular examples of mutual inspiration that have led to key decisions—for instance the transformation of Mariacka Street inspired by Ostrava’s Stodolní Street, or the construction of the new concert hall for the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra of Ostrava inspired by the new building of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. I hope that the exhibition Katowice Today, opened at Ostrava City Hall, will allow visitors to perceive the transformation Katowice has undergone in recent years and encourage the residents of Ostrava to visit our city.”
The original form of cooperation focused mainly on cross-border ties between the metallurgical and mining centres of Czechoslovakia and Poland. Today, the partnership is primarily reflected in cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism, and the exchange of experience related to urban transformation following the decline of heavy industry. Ostrava and Katowice are also part of broader Czech-Polish cooperation within euroregions such as Silesia.
Through its photographic panels, the exhibition introduces visitors to many attractions of Katowice—from modern sports facilities and well-designed public spaces in streets and squares where community and cultural life thrives, to historic landmarks, cultural venues, and green areas inviting relaxation in parks and forested areas.
We warmly invite all interested visitors to enjoy this engaging photographic presentation, complemented by detailed descriptions in both Czech and Polish. Some visitors may be surprised to learn that Katowice today ranks among the Polish cities with the largest areas of greenery, despite the stereotype of a “black city” still found in more distant regions. In this respect, too, we can see another similarity between Katowice and Ostrava.
When exploring the attractions of Katowice, it is worth using the City Break mobile application, which is also available in Czech. From the perspective of Ostrava, Katowice is its second-oldest partner city. The oldest partnership is with Coventry in the United Kingdom (established in 1957), while the most recent partnership was concluded with the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in 2024.
A full list of Ostrava’s partner cities can be found on the website of the City of Ostrava.