The historic carousel at Prague’s Letná will spin on July 11 after repairs
The carousel has been owned by the National Technical Museum since 2004.
“Putting a carousel together was not easy. What I was worried about was the restoration of the horses, which eventually succeeded. The most difficult thing was to put the skin together. But the biggest problem was the construction itself, because the originally competed company destroyed the carousel rather than helped it. This was followed by five competitions, of which no one applied for three. This delayed it all, “said Karel Ksandr, director of the National Technical Museum (NTM).
One of the repaired horses, named Flora, has been preserved and will remain in the museum as it is very fragile. His replica will be placed on the carousel. Other elements will also return to the carousel, such as knights.
According to the restorer Jiří Kmošek, the building is specific in that it combines various materials and types of crafts.
“From the beginning, we have been dealing with crafts that we have to imitate and sometimes even make better. “Somewhere we have to mask the defects in order to satisfy the conservationists, but at the same time they do not make it a new object,” he said.
Restorers need to control carpentry, joinery, plumbing, painting or locksmith and blacksmith work or solve electrical installations.
The installation of the roller shutters, which will cover the entrance arches, the stairs and the surroundings of the carousel, as well as the plumbing work on the roof, to which the turret will return, is still being completed.
“We will be able to meet the deadline in July,” said Kmošek.
One of the oldest in Europe
The carousel was to be completed in February this year. The delays were caused by static problems and the carousel also had to be leveled. Some of the lower parts rotted and the building collapsed.
“It simply came to our notice then. It needed to be picked up in several places. The highest stroke was about 30 centimeters, when we had to make prostheses for existing columns and insert them into the building and let it sit on them, “said Kmošek. In addition, according to him, there was a shortage of materials at the turn of the year.
The museum has been repairing the carousel for many years. In 2018, the restoration of figures and other interior elements was completed for about 7.6 million crowns, of which about 2.3 million were acquired by the museum from the public collection. Originally, the attraction was supposed to start operating in the same year, but there were problems with choosing a restorer.
The carousel was built in 1892 by the carpenter Matěj Bílek and spun for the first time in Vinohrady. Two years later, its owner Josef Nebeský moved it to Letná. The last time the people took a ride was in 2004, when the NTM could take it and it closed due to the critical condition. The museum also got an Atlantic orchestra and a bell, and the original was stolen by someone.