Prague forgotten: it had a huge amusement park Eden, the roller coaster measured five kilometers
A five-kilometer-long roller coaster, a black village, a dance hall, a devil’s bike and lots of incredible attractions. During the First Republic, Prague had a huge amusement park that could boldly compete with the Vienna Prater and was one of the largest in Europe. He is now remembered by an exhibition in the Vzlet house in Vršovice. Come and see what it once looked like in the places where the Slavia Prague sports complex now stands.
An exhibition called Where is Eden? prepared by photographer Alena Kotzmannová. She decided to combine the historical images of the amusement park with her photographs, which are pictorial associations corresponding to period shots.
“When I discovered the historical photos of Eden Amusement Park, I was absolutely fascinated. The five-kilometer roller coaster – longer than the world-famous Coney Island in New York, incredible attractions including the Abyssinian tribal village, all took place in Prague 10 and few people “It seems important to me today to point out the historical context with the exhibition, but also to open a dialogue in relation to the present.
“It was a magnificent company that attracted curious people from the distant surroundings, staff from local barracks or workers from the Waldeska factory in Vršovice,” describes the Vršovice amusement park curator Galerie Vzlet Denisa Václavová.
Exhibition Where is Eden? in the Vzlet gallery in Vršovice, prepared by photographer Alena Kotzmannová. | Photo: Tomáš Vocelka
“Alena Kotzmannová often draws the eye of the viewer by combining the found photos with images from her own photographic archive and thus creates a space of tension, possible relationships between the memory of the past, present and anticipation of the future,” says another curator David Korecký.
Amusement Park Eden began operations in 1922 and its literal advantage was the five-kilometer roller coaster. Visitors could also have fun in the enchanted castle, go dancing at the Colosseum dance hall or admire the Abyssinian natives in a black village. There was also a velodrome called Devil’s Wheel, a cafe and many other shops and stalls. At Easter 1930, an Italian named Zacchini arrived in Eden, where he was fired into the air from a cannon.
Why did Eden disappear? It was built primarily for the popular class, and therefore it was hit hard by the economic crisis in the 1930s. In addition, the area where he stood has gained a bad reputation due to the growing emergency colony on Bohdald and rising crime. In 1935, the roller coaster was demolished and in the following years more and more attractions ended. The situation still banned entertainment during World War II in 194 was closed by a decision of the Hygiene of the Capital City of Prague officially.
More information about the exhibition in the take-off house and the accompanying program can be found on the website www.vzlet.cz.