MUSEum+, Industrial Museum in Ostrava
MUSEum+ is a space where visitors can explore not only the history of industry but also its present and future. The museum inspires and reminds us that we are both the heirs and co-creators of a modern world where innovation, human energy, coal, and steel have transformed nations, cultures, and eco-systems, and is a story that is unfinished and will continue in new forms and with new sources of energy.
MUSEum+ is located on the site through which pig iron flowed for nearly two centuries. Blast furnaces 4 and 6 are designated as a national cultural monument. MUSEum+’s fundamental responsibility is to preserve these values for future generations, while making the decommissioned furnaces a living meeting place.
According to its charter, MUSEum+ creates a collection of industry and technology, particularly of mining and metallurgy and largely from the Moravian-Silesian region, while documenting the social and environmental context of industry. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) definition regarding participation, education, and reflection is a key emphasis. To educate and demonstrate are therefore as important as to collect.
MUSEum+ builds on the previously existing industrial museums in Ostrava that did not survive the various political turmoil that spanned eras. As their youngest sibling, its ambition is to complement technical museums in Prague and Brno and further develop industrial heritage conservation in one of the centres of heavy industry Czech Republic. Its aim is distinctly transregional in raising questions that are ultimately universal — as industrial heritage in its tangible and intangible form connects us to the stories on which our civilisation is based.