When you get off the Malostranská metro stop and wait for the tram that will take you to the Malostranské Square or even one station further, to the Prague`s Infant Jesus (this tram stop is called Hellichova), you will see a row of houses on the opposite part of Klárov. This street is called At the Iron Footbridge (U železné lávky). But why, if there is no iron footbridge? That’s easy – because it is not there, but it was there…
It was called Rudolf’s Footbridge, according to Crown Prince Rudolf, but it was also called “iron” (the photo by Rudolf Eckert shows the footbridge in 1881). The footbridge was built in 1869 to relieve traffic on the congested Charles Bridge. It was demolished in 1914, when the Mánes Bridge was built just to the left of it.
The green arrow in the photo indicates the houses that are no longer on Klárov and the metro station is behind them today. And the blue arrow? There was a half-timbered house – and fortunately it is still there.
Originally, the house was used for toll collection, later it was inhabited and today it is a clubhouse where children meet.
When you go to look at it from the Mánes Bridge, the green dome behind the house is on one of the buildings of the Straka Academy, now the seat of the government of the Czech Republic. And if you look just a little to the left, you’ll see buildings that really everyone knows…
Could Socrates Have Been in Prague?
