Opava (German: Troppau; Polish: Opawa) is a statutory city in the
Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic and one of the
historical capitals of Czech Silesia. Often called the “White Pearl
of Silesia” or simply “White Opava” (after poet Petr Bezruč), it
sits on the Opava River in a fertile valley between the Nízký
Jeseník hills and the Poopavská lowland, about 27 km northwest of
Ostrava and near the Polish border.
With a population of 55,109
as of 1 January 2025 (density ~608/km²) across 90.57 km², Opava
serves as a regional industrial, educational, and cultural hub. It
is a town of parks, Gothic-to-20th-century architecture, two iconic
towers, and a unique scale model of the Solar System.
Opava presents itself as a “town of parks and two towers”:
Co-Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Konkatedrála
Nanebevzetí Panny Marie): A magnificent late-13th-century Silesian Brick
Gothic church built by the Teutonic Order. Its 102-metre southern spire
is the tallest in Silesia; the massive steep roof and twin towers
dominate the skyline.
Town Hall (Radnice) on Horní náměstí:
Neo-Renaissance building crowned by the white Hláska tower (a landmark
visible across the city). The square is a pedestrian zone with fountains
and historic façades.
Municipal House (Městský dům): Cultural centre
with a permanent exhibition “A Journey of the City” featuring medieval
artefacts like the executioner’s sword and a 1750–1800 city model.
Breda Building: The Czech Republic’s first department store (1927/28), a
fine example of interwar architecture.
Unique Solar System Planet
Trail: A scale model (1:626,576,000) starting with the Sun in the city
centre and extending through parks and outskirts to Pluto at the Nový
Dvůr Arboretum entrance—Pluto’s model is just 3.6 mm in diameter.
Opava is surrounded by beautiful parks and gardens (including
revitalised City Gardens) and lies near romantic châteaux (Hradec nad
Moravicí, Raduň, Kravaře) and WWII memorials (Hrabyně). The Silesian
Artery cycling trail and Stříbrné Lake add recreational appeal.
The name derives from the Opava River, rooted in ancient Celtic apa or ahwa (“water”). A local legend tells of two noblemen hunting who argued over a beautiful peacock (o páva in Czech) brought by merchants; they resolved the dispute by naming the new settlement “Opava” in its honour.
The town of Opava belongs to the old residential
areas. The first witness settlements in archaeological finds date
back to the Early Stone Age. Almost every period of prehistory has
left its mark here. The last of them was a Slavic fortified
settlement in Kylešovice, whose inhabitants most probably belonged
to the Holasovice tribe, mentioned in the name of the nearby village
of Holasovice. The medieval settlement of Opava was probably
established in the 12th century in the form of a merchant
settlement, situated near the ford across the river Opava on the
trade route from Moravia to Poland. This road was part of the "Amber
Trail" connecting the Adriatic with the Baltic. The first written
report on the existence of Opava also comes from 1195, but it is
considered a forgery. The importance and position of the merchant
settlement was confirmed by the town's status, which it acquired
sometime around 1215. The decree of Přemysl Otakar I from 1224
speaks of Opava for the first time as a town.
The core of the
settlement was concentrated at the crossroads of trade routes in the
Horní náměstí area and spread along them to Mezi trhy Street and the
western part of Dolní náměstí. The original fortifications of the
town were probably formed only by a moat and earthen ramparts with a
wooden palisade, later stone walls were built interrupted in three
places by the city gates - Jaktařská, Ratibořská and Hradecká. In
addition to the two squares already mentioned, there was also a
market space at that time - the Cattle Market - on the site of
today's Masarykova Street. In the area of Horní náměstí, in the
place of the later Hláska, a merchant's house was built in 1327, the
oldest shopping center of the town. There has been a mint in the
town since the end of the 13th century, on the site of which a
modern Hotel Koruna was built in the 1980s. Opava's Přemyslid on the
Opava princely throne was replaced by the son of King George of
Poděbrady, Viktorín of Poděbrady, who was later forced to give in to
the claims of the son of the Hungarian King Matthias, Jan Korvín.
After Matyáš's death, however, he did not survive either, and the
Opava principality was subordinated directly to the Czech kings.
In the 16th century, Opava was severely affected by the
Reformation and most of the population belonged to Protestants in
the pre-White Mountain period. The people of Opava got into sharp
conflicts, especially with the bishops of Olomouc. The protesting of
the Opava principality to Charles of Liechtenstein by Emperor
Matthias in 1613 also met with resistance from Protestants. A great
disaster for Opava was caused by a fire in 1689. In 1625, the Jesuit
order was called to Opava, and five years later a Jesuit grammar
school was established there. The Jesuit dormitory in Sněmovní
Street was rebuilt in the Baroque style in the years 1711–1723,
after the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773 it fell to the
estates. A museum was established at the grammar school in 1814, the
oldest in the Czech state. Since 1853, the building has served the
Provincial Assembly, and is currently the seat of the Provincial
Archive.
Even after the end of the Thirty Years' War, Opava
remained the center of the principality, but the very importance of
princely powers and thus the importance of the central city
decreased with the advancing centralization tendencies of the
Habsburg monarchy. The ethnic composition of the city gradually
changed in favor of the German population, and in the 1920s the
Czechs represented only about one-seventh of the population of
Opava.
The defeat of Maria Theresa and the division of
Silesia between Prussia and Austria brought Opava to the position of
the center of Austrian Silesia. In addition to the authorities, a
number of members of the Silesian nobility built their headquarters
here. The importance of Opava in the 19th century was underlined by
the so-called Opava Congress or the Congress of the so-called Holy
Alliance in 1820, which brought together European rulers (Austrian
Emperor Francis I, Russian Tsar Alexander I and King of Prussia
Frederick William III). and diplomats.
In the field of
industry, several mainly textile companies were established. A
brewery was built in 1825, and in the middle of the 19th century two
sugar factories were established in the Jaktařské suburb. A
significant impetus for the development of industry was the opening
of a railway connection within the Northern Ferdinand Railway in
1855. As the capital of Austrian Silesia, Opava was also an
important administrative and self-governing center. The Silesian
Provincial Assembly was located here, headed by the provincial
governor and the provincial committee. The state administration for
Silesia was performed here by the provincial president and the
provincial government (governorate). The district court was also
located here.
In 1883 a Czech grammar school was founded in
Opava, in 1877 Matice opavská. Opavský besedník, then Opavský
týdenník, from the German newspaper Troppauer Zeitung and others
were published in the town. The political and ethnic situation
escalated after the end of the First World War, when Opava became
the capital of the Sudetenland province at the end of 1918. An
attempt at revolt against the emerging Czechoslovak state ended with
the occupation of the city by Czechoslovak military units without a
fight on December 18, 1918.
Until November 30, 1928, Opava was the capital of Czechoslovak
Silesia. In connection with the creation of the land, the
Moravian-Silesian town ceased to be the seat of the provincial
authorities. The city was still significantly dominated by the
German population, subject to the Nazi ideology of Henlein's Sudeten
German Party, especially in the second half of the 1930s, which
overwhelmingly welcomed the annexation to Nazi Germany in 1938. The
local synagogue was burned down. Opava became the capital of one of
the three government districts in the occupied Sudetenland.
In World War II, the city was liberated from 22 to 24 April 1945,
but with very heavy losses. It was destroyed by almost one third,
not a single factory was operating. Most of the original inhabitants
were displaced and the city changed not only its appearance but also
its national character. Already in October 1945, the permanent
professional Czech stage of the Silesian National Theater in Opava
began its activities. In 1948, the Silesian Study Institute was
established in Opava, today part of the Silesian Museum. In the
years 1953–1959, there was a pedagogical school in the town, which
was then transferred to Ostrava.
On Ostrožná Street, in a
building built on the site of Petr Bezruč's birthplace, an
exhibition on the poet's life and work was opened in 1956. Since
1958, the Bezručova Opava cultural festival has been held every
September in honor of the poet. The House of Art has been operating
in the reconstructed building of the former Dominican monastery
since 1974, regularly organizing art exhibitions and other cultural
events in its premises. Since 1990, Opava has again been a statutory
city. In the same year, the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in
Brno started its first school year here, and on this basis, on July
9, 1991, the Czech National Council approved the Act on the
Establishment of the Silesian University based in Opava.
Opava lies at the confluence of the Opava and Moravice rivers. Most
of the city is in the Opava Hilly Land (part of the Silesian Lowlands),
with extensions into the Nízký Jeseník range; the highest point is Hůrka
at 530 m. An artificial lake, Stříbrné jezero (Silver Lake), created
from a former gypsum quarry, offers recreation on the outskirts.
The
climate is temperate continental (Köppen Dfb). Summers are warm (July
mean daily max ~25.5°C), winters cold (January mean ~−0.8°C), with
average annual precipitation of ~569 mm and occasional heavy snow.
Record extremes range from −29.4°C to 37.1°C. Average annual temperature
is around 8.9°C, with ~1,748 sunshine hours per year.
Population grew steadily from 27,011 in 1869 to a peak of 62,815 in 1991, then declined modestly to 55,146 (2021 census) due to suburbanisation and low birth rates. In 1910, the town was ~92% German-speaking (with a small Czech and Jewish minority); postwar changes reversed this to overwhelmingly Czech.
Opava’s economy focuses on engineering, food processing, paper, and especially pharmaceuticals. The largest employer is Teva Czech Industries (founded 1883 as a predecessor company; ~1,600 staff). Other major non-industrial employers are the regional hospital and psychiatric hospital. Rail and road links to Ostrava, Poland, and Slovakia support its role as a market and industrial centre.
Opava is the seat of Silesian University (Slezská univerzita, est. 1991) and numerous secondary schools. It hosts important cultural institutions, including the Silesian Museum (founded 1814—the oldest museum in the Czech Republic), with collections on Silesian history, nature, art, and lifestyle from the Gothic era onward.