Vojan Gardens
Why is it significant?
Go through the gate in the long wall and close it behind you. The noise of Charles Bridge, just a couple of hundred metres away, simply switches off. Instead: lawns, old fruit trees, benches in the shade, and, very likely, a peacock dragging its tail across the grass as if it owned the place.
Key Facts
| Place | Vojan Gardens |
|---|---|
| Address | U Lužického semináře, 118 00 Praha 1, Czechia |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.08880, 14.40850 |
| Part of Walk | Prague's Secret Lesser Town: Kampa, the Devil's Stream & the Embassy Garden of 1989 |
| Generated | Generated |
Go through the gate in the long wall and close it behind you. The noise of Charles Bridge, just a couple of hundred metres away, simply switches off. Instead: lawns, old fruit trees, benches in the shade, and, very likely, a peacock dragging its tail across the grass as if it owned the place. It does, more or less.
The Vojan Gardens are often called the oldest garden in Prague. In the Middle Ages this land belonged to the court of the bishops of Prague, at the end of the old Judith Bridge. Later it became the garden of a convent of Carmelite nuns, and it kept their enclosed, private feeling: high walls, an orchard, paths made for walking and thinking rather than for being seen.
Find the little chapel of St Elijah. It is Baroque, but it pretends to be a cave: its walls are encrusted with artificial stalactites and rough stone, a reminder that the prophet Elijah, the spiritual father of the Carmelites, lived as a hermit on Mount Carmel. Not far away stands a second chapel, dedicated to St Theresa, the great Carmelite reformer. Two saints, two moods, in one quiet orchard.
The garden is named after Eduard Vojan, the greatest Czech actor of his time, famous at the National Theatre for his Hamlet and his tragic kings. He died in 1920, and naming this garden after him was the city's way of giving him a corner of peace. It suits him. On a weekday morning you might share the whole garden with a few office workers eating lunch, a mother with a pram, and the peacocks.
Stay as long as you like... this is the place in Malá Strana to do nothing at all. Then walk back along U Lužického semináře to the bridge towers, step up on to Charles Bridge, and after a few paces take the staircase on your right, down on to the island below. Welcome to Kampa.