Vltava River Islands Walk

The Čertovka is a narrow, man-made waterway that slices through the Malá Strana district, separating Kampa Island from the city. Its name translates to Devil’s Stream, a title local legend pins on an ill-tempered woman who supposedly lived…

The Lennon Wall in the Mala Strana district is a solid stone barrier covered in overlapping layers of spray-painted lyrics, portraits, and messages. Since the nineteen eighties, this wall served as a quiet space for dissent against the…

The Velkopřevorský Mill stands out because of the large wooden water wheel turning against the side of the building. It dates back to the twelfth century when the Knights of Malta built it to power their grain processing. While most of the…

The Sovovy Mlyny mills feature a stark, modernist concrete tower that contrasts sharply against the soft stone of the surrounding Mala Strana district. Meda Mladkova, an art collector who fled communist Czechoslovakia, turned these…

Ten giant, faceless infants crawl across the side of the Zizkov Television Tower. These fiberglass sculptures by artist David Cerny feature deep indentations where a human face should be. Cerny installed the first of these figures in the…

Střelecký Island splits the Vltava River with a long, thin strip of green parkland accessible by a single stone staircase descending from the Legion Bridge. In the fourteenth century, King Charles the Fourth granted local marksmen the…

Slovanský ostrov is an artificial island in the Vltava River, defined by the Neo-Renaissance Zofin Palace that occupies its center. Built on river sediment dumped here during the eighteenth century, the land eventually became a private…

The Žofín Palace sits on Slovanský Island, recognizable by its pale yellow neoclassical facade and the grand arched windows facing the Vltava River. Vaclav Novotny bought the island in the eighteen thirties and built a hall for dancing and…

The Šítkovská water tower leans noticeably toward the Vltava River, a tilt of nearly a meter that caught the eyes of engineers in the late nineteenth century. Built in the fifteen hundreds to supply the New Town with water from the river,…