Surviving heritage-protected steel headframe of the former Důl Petr Bezruč, the deepest colliery in the Ostrava coalfield, standing in Slezská Ostrava.
The headframe recorded under this entry is the older of two steel winding towers that formed the pithead complex of the former Důl Petr Bezruč (earlier Důl Terezie) in the Hladnov district of Slezská Ostrava. The mine itself was founded as Terezie in 1842 and reached an ultimate depth of 1,368 metres — the greatest in the entire Ostrava-Karviná coalfield — working coal seams in the Hrušovské, Jaklovecké, and Petřkovické strata. Over its operational life the mine field was opened by seven shafts, and approximately sixty million tonnes of coal were extracted between 1843 and 1992.
The surviving tower is a paired steel braced headframe constructed in the years 1907 and 1917; the two towers are set at a right angle to each other, making this form of combined structure unique in the coalfield. It is classified as a cultural monument. A second, more recent hammer-type headframe built between 1962 and 1965 was demolished by controlled demolition in August 2002.
The former colliery site is in the care of the state enterprise DIAMO, odštěpný závod Odra.
The mining history of the site begins with a prospecting survey initiated in 1838 by the entrepreneur J. Gross and his partners, covering the southern section of the Jaklovecký coalfield area on the Hladnov hillside. Construction of the first shaft commenced in 1842 and on 15 March 1843 a concession for surface mining works was formally issued. Josef Gross sold the mine in April 1843 to Salomon Mayer Rothschild, whose business interests also encompassed the Vítkovické železárny (Vítkovice ironworks). Before its sale the mine had already been named Terezie after Gross's wife. In the same period a coke plant was established alongside the mine, with thirty coke ovens operating until their closure in 1889; a further coking facility was opened in 1860. In 1843 the Vítkovické kamenouhelné doly acquired the Terezie concession, and in 1895 the mine became formally integrated into the Vítkovické horní a hutní těžířstvo (VHHT).
A decisive transformation came in 1862, when the mine was connected to the báňská dráha (mining railway), enabling efficient coal despatch and allowing the operation to be converted from a shallow to a deep (hlubinný) mine. This conversion fundamentally changed the scale and output of the colliery. A large coal-preparation plant was constructed in 1867. In 1879 jáma Vízina was incorporated into the Terezie mine complex, followed in 1883 by jáma Jindřich. The mining field was thus progressively consolidated around the main Terezie shaft.
The pair of steel headframes that constitutes the surviving heritage structure was erected in two phases. One tower was built in 1907 and the second in 1917; set at right angles to each other, they form a conjoined braced steel structure unique in the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield. Their upper sections carry light Art Nouveau decorative elements. During the interwar and wartime periods the mine continued operation under VHHT ownership. On 1 January 1942, during the German occupation, the name was changed from Terezie to Bergschacht (Náhorní důl). The original name was restored briefly on 1 May 1945, but on 17 July 1946, following nationalisation, the mine was renamed Petr Bezruč in honour of the Silesian poet and writer Petr Bezruč. The nationalised mine became part of the state enterprise Ostravsko-karvinské kamenouhelné doly Ostrava, the predecessor organisation of OKD.
During the 1950s and early 1960s the mine underwent significant modernisation. A second main shaft — Nová jáma (Bezruč 2) — was sunk between 1959 and 1962 to a depth of 1,089.4 metres; full operational use began in 1965. Over the new shaft a hammer-type headframe was erected, which at the time became the tallest structure in Ostrava. Its winding house was fitted with two winding machines of the Koepe system. This shaft was the deepest in the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield. On 1 July 1961 Důl Trojice was absorbed into the Petr Bezruč complex. On 1 January 1967 a further organisational consolidation created the collective Důl Ostrava, uniting Důl Petr Bezruč and Důl Zárubek; Petr Bezruč became závod č. 1 (shaft enterprise no. 1). A further merger on 1 July 1987 incorporated Důl Hlubina as závod Hlubina into the same enterprise under the name Důl Ostrava.
Throughout its working life the mine field was served by seven shafts: Terezie, Nová jáma, Vízina, Jindřich, jáma č. IV, jáma č. V, and jáma č. VII, with the field covering an area of 394 hectares. Working depths reached 1,368 metres, and temperatures at the deepest levels approached 45°C. In total, approximately sixty million tonnes of coal were extracted between 1843 and 1992.
Coal winding was ended on 30 June 1992 pursuant to the government's restructuring programme for the Ostrava coalfield (usnesení vlády č. 827/91). The last symbolic removal of coal on the Nová jáma was recorded on 8 June of that year. Preparatory work for mine closure continued until 23 July 1993, when the final descent of the Nová jáma in the first shift took place. The VOJ Důl Ostrava enterprise, including the Petr Bezruč shaft operation, was formally dissolved on 1 August 1993 and transferred to Důl Odra for closure management, subsequently passing to the state enterprise DIAMO, odštěpný závod Odra.
Following closure the shafts were backfilled and sealed. The newer hammer-type headframe had been classified as a technical monument, but was subsequently removed from the protection register on grounds of structural condition and was demolished by controlled demolition on 14 August 2002. The older paired steel headframe — the structure that is the subject of this entry — was retained and is classified as a cultural monument. The mine site also preserves the shaft building and the machine rooms of the main and auxiliary winding engines. From 2007 the protected structures, including the headframe, shaft building, and changing rooms, have been in the custody of DIAMO, odštěpný závod Odra. The site is not routinely open to the public; occasional guided visits to the surviving headframe have been organised by DIAMO. Plans for redevelopment of the wider site around the former mine as a new centre for the Slezská Ostrava district have been discussed but remain unrealised.