Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LETNÁ'S STALIN MONUMENT
Letná's - indeed Prague's - most infamous monument is one that no longer exists. The
Stalinmonument
, the largest in the world, was once visible from almost every part of the
city: a 30m-high granite sculpture portraying a procession of Czechs and Russians being
led to Communism by the Pied Piper figure of Stalin, but popularly dubbed
tlačenice
(the
crush)becauseofitsresemblancetoaCommunist-erabreadqueue.DesignedbyJiříŠtursa
and Otakar Švec, it took six hundred workers five hundred days to erect the 14,200-ton
monster. Švec committed suicide shortly before it was unveiled, as his wife had done three
years previously, leaving all his money to a school for blind children, since they at least
would not have to see his creation. It was eventually revealed to the cheering masses on
May1,1955,butwithinayear,Khrushchevhaddenouncedhispredecessor.Afterpressure
from Moscow, the monument was blown to smithereens by a series of explosions spread
over a fortnight in 1962. All that remains above ground is the statue's vast concrete plat-
form and steps, on the southern edge of the Letná plain, since 1991 graced with a sym-
bolic giant red
metronome
, actually a piece of (now rather tatty) sculpture by Vratislav
Novák called
Stroj času
(
Time Machine
); it's a great viewpoint, with the central stretch of
the Vltava glistening in the afternoon sun.
Národní technické muzeum (National Technical Museum)
Kostelní 42•Mon-Fri9am-5.30pm,Sat&Sun10am-6pm•190Kč• 220399111,
ntm.cz
•Tram#1,#5,
#8, #12, #17, #18, #20, #22 or #26 to Strossmayerovo náměstí
Occupying a seminal functionalist 1930s building on Kostelní, the
Národní technické
muzeum
is, despite its rather dull title, a surprisingly engaging place to while away an af-
ternoon. Reopened in 2011 after a complete overhaul, the showpiece hangar-like main hall
contains an impressive gallery of motorbikes, Czech and foreign, and a wonderful collection
of old planes, trains and automobiles from Czechoslovakia's industrial heyday between the
wars when the country's Škoda cars and Tatra soft-top stretch limos were desirable baubles.
The oldest car in the collection is Laurin & Klement's 1898 Präsident, more of a motorized
carriage than a car; the museum also boasts the oldest Bugatti in the world. Other displays
trace the development of early photography and printing, but it's the wheeled wonders most
come to see.
Národní zemědělské muzeum (National Agricultural Museum)
Kostelní 42 •Tues-Sun 9am-5pm • 110Kč • 220 308 200,
nzm.cz
• Tram #1, #5, #8, #12, #17, #18, #20,
#22 or #26 to Strossmayerovo náměstí
Occupying a 1930s building, almost identical to that of the National Technical Museum next
door,the
Národnízemědělskémuzeum
containsprobablyoneofthefinestdisplaysoftract-
ors that you're ever likely to see. Among the domestic workhorses by Škoda and Zetor,
