
Ostrava
Michal Mine
Critics rank Radim Špaček masterwork Walking Too Fast as one of the best post-1989 Czech pictures. The director returned to his native Ostrava to film the chilling story of a secret police officer who falls in love with a dissident’s wife.
With five Czech Lion awards, Walking Too Fast really is an exceptional film. Among the locations it employed was one of Ostrava’s best known cultural landmarks, the Michal Mine. Its rusty pipes, shabby tiles and abandoned mining tower were the perfect setting for a thriller. You are also sure to feel the oppressive period atmosphere. Hopefully nobody will inform on you for being here.
Follow the daily route of the miners to work and take a peek into the mine’s changing rooms, medical centre, machine room and boiler room, while there is also a tour of the courtyard. Wearing a helmet, of course! Children will be delighted by an exhibition of Merkur construction kit models – their dads perhaps even more so.