History of the City of Ostrava Under the Mythical Landek Ostrava
got its name from the river Ostravice, which divides the town
into its Moravian and Silesian parts. The root of the word
Ostrava, “ostrý”, means “sharply, quickly, swiftly flowing
river“. The first evidence of human settlement in the region on
which today's city lies goes back to the Stone Age.
Approximately 25,000 years ago, mammoth hunters had an
encampment at the top of Landek Hill, which has been evidenced
by numerous archaeological finds. The most significant discovery
was a 48 mm high figurine of a woman’s torso made from hematite
found in 1953, called the Petrkovice (or Landek) Venus.
Archaeologists have found evidence that prehistoric hunters used
coal from exposed seams on the surface as fuel. It is the first
evidence of the use of black coal in the world. In the 8th
century, one of the numerous hill forts of the Slavic Holasic
tribe was built on the legendary Landek Hill. The stone castle
of Czech King Přemysl Otakar II was built here