Havířov

Havířov
Havířov
	Part of town square
; Flag	; Coat of arms
	Location in the Czech Republic
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Country	Czech Republic
Region	Moravian-Silesian
District	Karviná
Founded	1955
City parts	8 Dolní Bludovice; Dolní Datyně; Dolní Suchá; Havířov-Město; Havířov-Podlesí; Prostřední Suchá; Šumbark; Životice;
Government
• Mayor	Daniel Pawlas
Area
• Total	32.07 km2 (12.38 sq mi)
Elevation	260 m (850 ft)
Population (1 January 2015)
• Total	75 049
Postal code	736 01
Website	http://www.havirov-city.cz/

Havířov (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɦaviːr̝of] ( listen); Polish: <phonos file="Hawierzow.ogg">Hawierzów</phonos>, Cieszyn Silesian: <phonos file="Hawiyrzow.ogg">Hawiyrzów</phonos>) is a city in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has 77,449 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the region. It is the largest town in the country without a university. Havířov lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia.

Havířov was founded after World War II (thus being the youngest city in today's Czech Republic) as a coal mining town. Havířov officially became a town in 1955. It was built on top of several villages with significant Polish populations. The local people were given apartments in the newly built city, and most of their old houses were demolished to make room for new urban buildings. The majority of the population of Havířov immigrated from other parts of Czechoslovakia, many of them from Slovakia, as migrant workers, thus substantially altering the ethnic structure of the area. Today, the original villages are administratively part of the city and mostly lie on the outskirts of urban Havířov.

History and monuments

Havířov railway station

Havířov was founded after the Second World War. Most of the buildings of the new city were built in the style of Socialist realism. In the 1960s there was built a new train station in the so-called Brussels style (Czechoslovak avant-garde artistic movement), which is probably the best-known city monument.

Sport

Football

The city's football club, MFK Havířov, competes in the Czech Fourth Division. In the past, the team appeared for several seasons in Czech 2. Liga.

Ice hockey

The ice hockey club AZ Havířov appears in the First National Hockey League, the second-tier league of ice hockey in the country.

Rugby

RC Havířov competes in the highest division of rugby in the Czech Republic, the KB Extraliga.

Cycling

Havířov hosted the prologue and the third stage, both an individual time trial, of the 2012 and 2013 Gracia-Orlová.

International relations

Twin towns - Sister cities

Havířov is twinned with:

Banská Bystrica, Slovakia Collegno, Italy Harlow, England Jastrzębie Zdrój, Poland	Mažeikiai, Lithuania Omiš, Croatia Paide, Estonia Turčianske Teplice, Slovakia