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EXHIBITIONS EXHIBITIONS THE CAFÉS OF OSTRAVA 2. 10. 2025–27. 9. 2026 A café is a meeting-place and a haven for contemplation, an oasis of calm or a bustling hive of activity. It is a place where people create culture and engage in dialogue – a place that holds up a mirror to society. It might surprise you to learn that Ostrava – a city built on coal, iron and industrial toil – proved such a fertile ground for café culture. The stark contrast between the hard-working city and the refined world of its cafés makes this phenomenon particularly remarkable. Ostrava’s cafés – the last thing we would expect in such an industrial environment – became “islands” within the city, places where people found inspiration, relaxation, and a vibrant community. Our exhibition “The cafés of Ostrava” invites you to travel back in time and experience three periods of café culture in the city – each of them bearing aromatic witness to a particular era. Through the stories of four iconic Ostrava cafés – the Praha, Elektra, Fénix and Palace – we trace the evolution of the city’s café scene from the boom years of the early 20th century, through the decline and transformation of Ostrava’s cafés in the second half of the century, to their new incarnations in the present day. Established in the golden age of Ostrava’s café culture, these are the only cafés in the city that have survived throughout all the turbulence of modern history and have become living witnesses to the evolution of public spaces in times of both freedom and totalitarianism. A café is a litmus test of democracy – the freer a society, the more vibrant and diverse are its cafés. And what about coffee itself? Once a luxury item available only to a select few, it has now become a much-loved daily ritual for many. This exhibition will not only guide you through the world of cafés; it will also reveal the fascinating world of coffee itself – as a plant, a drink, and a social and cultural phenomenon that reaches into a plethora of domains including health, language, and much more. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── WHAT ARE PLANTS HIDING FROM US? / An exhibition of plant microphotographs by Nela Klusová 8. 5.–26. 7. 2026 We pass plants every day—at first glance, they are just inconspicuous leaves or stems. On a microscopic scale, however, they transform into complex, precisely organized structures of cells and tissues. Vascular bundles, mechanical tissues, and assimilatory tissues form patterns with surprising regularity, yet also exhibit interspecific variability. Light microscopy reveals their arrangement, but fluorescence microscopy literally illuminates these structures, allowing us to study plants from a completely different perspective. The exhibition presents plants from a viewpoint hidden to the naked eye, revealing their internal organization, which serves as both the functional foundation of the plant and a work of art by nature. The photographs were taken by Nela Klusová, a doctoral student in Biophysics and Physics of Nanostructures at the University of Ostrava. Please note that the exhibition is located in the attic exhibition spaces, which are not wheelchair accessible. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── INFORMATIONS FOR VISITORS At most of the exhibitions in Ostrava's museum, you will find QR codes with translations of texts in English and Polish. We apologize, but the exhibition's accompanying program is not available in English or Polish. Guided tours and other activities in Ostrava's museum are conducted in Czech only. Close printable version

EXHIBITIONS

THE CAFÉS OF OSTRAVA
2. 10. 2025–27. 9. 2026

A café is a meeting-place and a haven for contemplation, an oasis of calm or a bustling hive of activity. It is a place where people create culture and engage in dialogue – a place that holds up a mirror to society. It might surprise you to learn that Ostrava – a city built on coal, iron and industrial toil – proved such a fertile ground for café culture. The stark contrast between the hard-working city and the refined world of its cafés makes this phenomenon particularly remarkable. Ostrava’s cafés – the last thing we would expect in such an industrial environment – became “islands” within the city, places where people found inspiration, relaxation, and a vibrant community.

Our exhibition “The cafés of Ostrava” invites you to travel back in time and experience three periods of café culture in the city – each of them bearing aromatic witness to a particular era.

Through the stories of four iconic Ostrava cafés – the Praha, Elektra, Fénix and Palace – we trace the evolution of the city’s café scene from the boom years of the early 20th century, through the decline and transformation of Ostrava’s cafés in the second half of the century, to their new incarnations in the present day. Established in the golden age of Ostrava’s café culture, these are the only cafés in the city that have survived throughout all the turbulence of modern history and have become living witnesses to the evolution of public spaces in times of both freedom and totalitarianism.

A café is a litmus test of democracy – the freer a society, the more vibrant and diverse are its cafés. And what about coffee itself? Once a luxury item available only to a select few, it has now become a much-loved daily ritual for many. This exhibition will not only guide you through the world of cafés; it will also reveal the fascinating world of coffee itself – as a plant, a drink, and a social and cultural phenomenon that reaches into a plethora of domains including health, language, and much more.

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WHAT ARE PLANTS HIDING FROM US? / An exhibition of plant microphotographs by Nela Klusová
8. 5.–26. 7. 2026

We pass plants every day—at first glance, they are just inconspicuous leaves or stems. On a microscopic scale, however, they transform into complex, precisely organized structures of cells and tissues. Vascular bundles, mechanical tissues, and assimilatory tissues form patterns with surprising regularity, yet also exhibit interspecific variability. Light microscopy reveals their arrangement, but fluorescence microscopy literally illuminates these structures, allowing us to study plants from a completely different perspective. The exhibition presents plants from a viewpoint hidden to the naked eye, revealing their internal organization, which serves as both the functional foundation of the plant and a work of art by nature. The photographs were taken by Nela Klusová, a doctoral student in Biophysics and Physics of Nanostructures at the University of Ostrava. Please note that the exhibition is located in the attic exhibition spaces, which are not wheelchair accessible.

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INFORMATIONS FOR VISITORS
At most of the exhibitions in Ostrava's museum, you will find QR codes with translations of texts in English and Polish. We apologize, but the exhibition's accompanying program is not available in English or Polish. Guided tours and other activities in Ostrava's museum are conducted in Czech only.