Hanavský Pavilion: Cast-Iron Lace and the Ladder of Bridges
Why is it significant?
Lean on the stone balustrade in front of the little cast-iron pavilion and look down. The river curls below you, and its bridges line up one behind another like the rungs of a ladder laid across the water. Most visitors to Prague never climb up here. That is their loss, and today your gain.
Key Facts
| Place | Hanavský Pavilion: Cast-Iron Lace and the Ladder of Bridges |
|---|---|
| Address | Letenské sady 173, 170 00 Praha 7, Czechia |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.09370, 14.41260 |
| Part of Walk | Letná & Holešovice: Prague's Hidden North Bank, from Stalin's Ghost to the Royal Game Park |
| Generated | Generated |
Lean on the stone balustrade in front of the little cast-iron pavilion and look down. The river curls below you, and its bridges line up one behind another like the rungs of a ladder laid across the water. Most visitors to Prague never climb up here. That is their loss, and today your gain.
The pavilion behind you is a small wonder of the industrial age. It was cast for the Jubilee Exhibition of 1891 by the ironworks at Komárov, in central Bohemia, which belonged to the Princes of Hanau, hence the name. It was a showpiece of what Bohemian foundries could do: columns, balconies and lace-like Neo-Baroque ornament, all of it iron pretending to be stone and stucco. After the exhibition it was taken apart like a construction kit and rebuilt here on the edge of Letná in 1898.
Now count the bridges, if you can. The nearest is the Čech Bridge, with its bronze figures on tall columns, then the Mánes Bridge, then Charles Bridge with its line of dark statues, then on into the haze towards the National Theatre. This angle, from above and from the side, is the classic postcard view of Prague's bridges, and it costs nothing but a climb.
The park around you, Letenské sady, was laid out in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the growing city needed somewhere green for its Sunday walks, on a plateau that had been fields, vineyards and military ground. The exhibition of 1891 that gave birth to this pavilion will come back again at the end of the walk, because its grounds lie just behind the hill, in Holešovice.
Turn east now and follow the broad promenade along the edge of the park. Ahead of you, high above the Čech Bridge, a giant needle swings slowly from side to side against the sky. Walk towards it, and get ready for the strangest pedestal in Prague.