• Address:

    Building plot 9515 Myslbekova – Prašný most, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Client:

    Metrostav a.s.

  • Description of work:

    Ground and foundations works, vertical and complete structures, stone and masonry works, restoration treatment of stone and brick walls

  • Realization:

    2017

The Baroque curtain walls were constructed between 1653 – 1730 when Prague was redesigned into a Baroque fortress with a citadel located at Vyšehrad (Czech for ``upper castle``). Neglected city walls around Prague were reconstructed and the old Gothic walls remained in place only in certain sections. The fortifications were reinforced with bastions (bulwarks). The Baroque “Marian” curtain walls, named after the small Virgin Mary Church near the Písecká brána (Sand Gate), led from the Prašný most (Powder Bridge) over across Pohořelec and Petřín towards the Vltava river, and on the other side towards Letná. Of the fortress entrance gates, only the Písecká brána (also called Bruská) has been preserved to the present day. The decision to get rid of the city walls was taken in 1860. The walls to the west of Písecká brána was demolished in 1898 and during the 1899 and 1901 years the Royal Military School (nowadays the Ministry of Defense) building was constructed in such place. The eastern part was gradually removed after 1901.

GEMA ART GROUP a.s. carried out preservation and restoration of the Baroque curtain walls above the Blanka tunnel entrance in the section Myslbekova – Prašný most, in Prague 6. The works started after the completion and opening of the “Blanka” tunnel for the public.

The work carried since 2015 was opened with a careful removal of bushes and self-seeded trees. Brick and stone walls of the bastions were breached in many places by the root system of now fully-grown trees. The securing of the Baroque bastions included extensive ground works, excavations, removal of old anchors, boreholes and grouting, insulation against earth dampness, gradual disassembly of degraded parts and adding substitute stones or bricks into the walls. Final works involved mounting of bull nose cap stones to the top of the walls, applying lime plasters and treatment against air and climatic humidity.

The construction project was completed in June 2017. The project was completed within the planned deadline; the entire park complex is opened for the public. The reconstructed masonry was handed over to the client free of defects and backlogs. Representatives of the National Heritage Institute evaluated the construction project as “exemplary” in terms of further reconstructions of the Baroque fortifications around Prague city center.