The panorama of Prague will never be the same again • RESPECT
Prague will lose its historic landmark and its panorama will no longer look the same. This is the result of Wednesday’s decision by the Railway Administration, which published the new form of the Vyšehrad railway bridge, which should replace the listed building at the same place under Vyšehrad by 2027.
Winning design from 2T engineering the result of the architectural competition is the appearance of the existing bridge from 1901. “At first glance, it will be completely different: although it is also a copy of the arched bridge with three bays, only the pillars will remain from the original, the charming dark riveted steel will be replaced by brand new cool white shapes reminiscent of concrete with stainless steel tie rods, the entire bridge deck will be raised by at least a meter and two tracks will be replaced by three, i.e. the bridge will be wider. There will also be a stop at Výtoni, which will change the overall character of the embankment below Vyšehrad. Although it has a shabby impression today, this the situation is more suitable than the unified glass bistro that the Railway Administration presented in the visualizations of the new bridge.
The original railway bridge should be moved elsewhere; where, I don’t know yet. The conservationists and the railwaymen argued for a long time about its preservation, and because of this there are many proposals that initially with its preservation in the original place. For example, the architect Petr Tej from the Bridge Structures studio with a team of international colleagues (Marek Kopeć, Ian Firth, Andreas Galmarini, Steen Trojaborg, Eugen Brühwiler) designed a subtle concrete structure, which according to the form of the third track (the addition of another track was in the conditions of basic competitions) completed the bridge on the side, without in any way disturbing the view that we have associated with Vyšehrad for more than a hundred years. That Tej is familiar with the field is evidenced, among other things, by the fact that, according to his design, the HolKa footbridge from Holešovice to Karlín is currently being built.
However, as is often the case with Czech transport structures, a much more radical solution ultimately won. It is said to cost approximately two billion, construction is to begin in 2026 and should be completed in about 20 months. Let’s recall that when the existing railway bridge was built to replace the old monorail, train traffic was stopped for just two days.
But that’s not the worst news. The reason is that even in the age of super-modern technologies, which today make it incomparably easier than before to connect historical structures to the requirements of the current time, we take care of the heritage of our ancestors. In addition, knowing that their buildings were able to last so long that one completely forgot that they have not been standing in their place since ancient times. On the other hand, a lot of water will still run under the Vyšehrad bridge by 2026, and it would not be surprising if only now, after the publication of the results of the competition, a wave of protests arose against the proposed form, not only from the Prague public.