This statutory town with 71,200 inhabitants is located in the Moravian-Silesian Region 11 kilometres from Ostrava.

Havířov is the youngest city in the Czech Republic, which was founded by a resolution of the Czechoslovak government of 4 December 1955, when it was granted city rights.

It is an industrial town, focused on the engineering, energy, food and rubber industries. The origins of the town date back to the autumn of 1947, when the first construction of houses began on the border of Šenov and Šumbark. In 1948, the preparation of project documentation for further buildings continued and in 1949 the first apartment buildings with 96 flats were completed. In 1950, construction began on the Pavko Korčagin Apprenticeship School, today's Municipality of Havířov.

In 1953 the construction of another 1,000 flats continued and the local library began to operate in temporary conditions. In 1954 the construction of a gas compression plant in Prostřední Suchá began.

Architecturally, the most interesting feature is the town centre, which was built during the 1950s-1960s in the style of Sorely, i.e. socialist realism, and which was declared a protected conservation area in 1992.