Letná without barriers

Letenské náměstí → Ovenecká → Museums →

For a refreshing outing through another distinctive Prague location with a large green plain, we will set off from Letenské square, where a Viennese-style tram stop is partially accessible in both directions.

We turn into Ovenecká street, which in the period of the First Republic formed the hypothetical backbone of the so-called Letná Montmartre. Thanks to the opening of the Academy of Fine Arts at the beginning of the last century, sculpture workshops and painting studios began to emerge in the surrounding buildings near Bubenečská street (its northern part). Although most of them have been transformed into luxury apartments, the artistic feel of the district remains.

Along the Art Nouveau apartment building U Města Prahy by Alois Masák on the corner of Milady Horákové street, we will take the right-side wide walkway with level mosaic paving towards the National Technical Museum, whose stark angular shapes beckon at the southern end of Ovenecká street.

Taking the low-kerb crossing to the other side of Letohradská street we then go around the back of the museum along the asphalt walkway to Muzejní street, where the surface turns into coarser mosaic paving. The alley separates the buildings of the National Technical Museum and the lesser-known, but no less interesting National Museum of Agriculture.

The design of both functionalist buildings was the work of architect Milan Babuška, in the second half of the 1930s. Both museums with some wittily conceived interactive entertainment currently have substantially barrier-free spaces, the respective floors of the buildings are connected by elevators and there are adapted sanitary facilities for visitors with restricted mobility.

National Museum of Agriculture unlike its technical twin, it doesn’t have a nice café, but it can offer impressive views of the city from the spacious, partially grassy roof terrace, which is conveniently accessible by elevator.

From Kostelní street opposite the NTM building, a paved walkway rises to Letenské sady in an approximately twenty-metre section with a 6% slope. Worth noticing here is a wooden pavilion with a twelve-sided ground plan, a beam structure and a pyramidal roof, on the left side of the road. This may be quite the oldest preserved carousel in Europe, made by Master Carpenter Matěj Bílek from Vinohrady in the last decade of the 19th century.

→ Letná Park (Letenské sady)

This part of Letná Park, which stretches along the horizon from Letná Château to Badeniho street, has a flat terrain, with two main promenade routes.

Around the Neo-Renaissance Letná Château with its two-storey tower is a lively social zone with a partially accessible restaurant on the ground floor of the building, a large beer garden and a children’s playground. The area has a flat paved surface alternately made of mosaic paving, asphalt and compacted grit. We can stop here for a while, refresh ourselves with the most popular Czech drink, and enjoy the breathtaking panoramas that make Letná such a special place.

From Letná Château we will make our way under the welcome shade of mature trees along the left promenade route at the edge of the Letná Plain, which opens up here and there to offer stunning views of the Vltava river and its wealth of bridges, the Old Town and adjacent city quarters, as well as the modern buildings of Pankrác on the horizon. The road has a level asphalt surface without unpleasant surprises and with just a slight downward incline, taking us beneath the Metronome.

This space, where a construction by Vratislav Karel Novák marks time for Prague’s inhabitants, and which had in the 1950s hosted a gigantic monument to the Soviet dictator Stalin, is almost a cult venue for Prague skateboarders. They show off their mastery here in a convivial atmosphere, beginners and professionals alike. Unfortunately, leading up to the Metronome from all sides are steps, or a very steep ramp. Nevertheless, the area below the Metronome, where our route has taken us, hosts fascinating alternative programmes during the summer months.

Up a gentle incline we reach the southwestern corner of the park, where we find the Hanau pavilion (Hanavský Pavilon), notable for its ornately exotic Neo-Baroque shapes. It was created as an exhibition and promotional pavilion by the Komárov Ironworks for the Prague Jubilee Territorial Exhibition of 1891 and represents the historically first Prague structure made of cast iron and concrete. It stands on an outcrop on the Letná Plain. Leading to it from one side is a paved, almost hundred-metre long walkway with a 6% incline, while from the other direction (from the Metronome) the route slopes nearly twice as much. A system of stairs leads to the pavilion itself, but the small terrace in front of it can lay claim to being one of the most beautiful viewing points from the Letná side, looking out over the Old Town and part of the Lesser Town.

Whether or not we make a detour to the lookout at the pavilion, we will next turn right and continue in a northerly direction. The area by the Marian fortification walls between the bastions of St Mary Magdalene and St Thomas looks peaceful most of the year. Every August for the last fifteen years this place has come alive for two weeks, with the excellent new circus festival Letní Letná, hosting top troupes and ensembles from all over the world. (If you want to attend that event, it’s a good idea to book your tickets several months in advance.)

At the crossroads near the bastion of St Thomas we turn right again and head east along a straight asphalt roadway, cracked in places. This lengthy section can be particularly welcome for small children, who will find a large and imaginative playground here. In the adjacent refreshment facility Na Baště with its outdoor terrace and a partially accessible toilet is a good place for the whole family to get some rest and relaxation.

Along the walkway by the Ministry of the Interior building we will reach Milady Horákové street, from where we will get back to the starting point of the route, Letenské square, through a traffic-light crossing with low kerbs.

The metronome, also dubbed the Time Machine, is located on the site of the former Stalin monument. Together with its pendulum, it is 25 m high and weighs 7 tonnes. The driving mechanism is housed within its pyramidal base. The pendulum, making an arc of 60 degrees is counterbalanced by a rocker arm with a two-tonne weight.