Open to People and New Visions

STYL Open to People and New Visions Industrial architecture, education, culture, connection of communities in the heart of Europe: that is the Lower Area of Vítkovice. How has it been affected during the COVID-19 lock down? What is being prepared for visitors in the months to come? Petr Koudela, CEO of Dolní Vítkovice (Lower Area of Vítkovice) talked to us about these issues. The Lower Area of Vítkovice is an area unique in Europe and, indeed, the world. It is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the Czech Republic. What are your daily routines now, and what novel offerings are you preparing? Years ago, when we were rescuing individual buildings in the area to open them up to the public, we had no idea that within a few years we would be preparing another re-opening. During the unexpected lockdown, the Lower Area of Vítkovice got involved in providing free playgroups for the children of first-responders and we live-streamed instructions in chemistry and various experiments from the Science and Technology Centre to support home schooling. We introduced concerts by regional bands and artists. All of these went online via social networks or Youtube. Currently, we are opening our venues one-by-one, hoping our visitors will come back again in the numbers we are used to. Nowadays, the highly attractive café in the Bolt Tower is open daily, as are the historic guided tours of the blasting furnaces and Children’s World, a bonus feature of the Bolt Tower lookout, and there is a special module for visiting the Science and Technology Centre. We started a unique form of drive-in cinema (with Czech and foreign movies) which became very popular. At the same time, we got engaged in the project “Bo kultura jede” (Because Culture Rocks), which supports artists in these difficult times and promotes cultural events in Ostrava. We are providing a festival area at Bolt Tower, and a year-long sheltered festival room under a retractable roof for our own events as well as other promoters’ events and festivals. I am sincerely looking forward to events at this new scene, called Víkendov (Weekendland), which will house adrenalin attractions and a family amusement park. We are providing guided tours of our expositions, such as the boat, Niké, and the story of Richard Konkolski. We offer unique oxygen therapy through the project “Pressure against Viruses”. Anybody can visit Landek and the Lower Area of Vítkovice; we have a good spectrum of programmes to choose from. Otázky připravil: Vít Ruprich Foto: Lukáš Kaboň www.dolnivitkovice.cz You have been active in the media your entire professional life. You are a member of the editorial team of our magazine, too. What do you think the image of our region in the Czech Republic is, and how is it shaped by modern media? Thanks to original projects, events, and drive, it sure is very positive. Even though there is some occasional negativity in some local issues, we generally succeed in positively promoting our region, and not only in 78 ǀ POSITIV 2/2020 regional media outlets. Speaking of our projects, I am convinced that the success of the Lower Area of Vítkovice is largely based on our good cooperation with the media. I am very grateful for that. The Lower Area of Vítkovice contains numerous National Heritage sites. How do you manage to coordinate them with new architectural projects? This is a special discipline, and opinions on that differ. We negotiate with relevant institutions, and our results, awards and keen visitor interest have proven our efforts right. From the very beginning, our key visionaries have been Jan Světlík, the author of the project, and the architect, Josef Pleskot. My brother, who has lived in Britain for many years, was asked once by his friends, knowing he’s Czech, what he would recommend seeing in the Lower Area of Vítkovice, as they were getting ready for their trip to Ostrava. They had heard about an interesting site with stunning architectural features; and, of course, they had not known that he is related to that area. You have many business partners. What attracts them to cooperate with the Lower Area of Vítkovice? We want to be a good partner for them in our activities. We offer them participation in education, the preparation of teaching modules, as well as space to hold attractive and original company events, meetings, or interesting presentations. They may use some employee benefits in the form of tickets to our facilities or cultural events taking place in the Lower Area of Vítkovice. We have a wide range of regional and national partners who support our development and sustainability. We are proud to promote them (a full list is available on our web), and we award their assistance by offering them our services and facilities. This contributes to the efficient operation of the Lower Area of Vítkovice. Which other destination in our region would you recommend to a tourist? Will you tell us about a place where you like going to relax? I am a patriot when it comes to Ostrava and the Lower Area of Vítkovice so I must mention Landek Park. Prehistoric finds, mining history, landscapes, bikeways, sportsgrounds, walks by the Oder River, and fine cuisine make Landek a very fine place. Outside Ostrava, I love Karlova Studánka and I also like driving to my favourite resort in Kopřivná near Praděd Mountain. Thank you for the interview.