walk through prague 3: upper žižkov

Route description 
 

Length of first stage: approx. 4.2 km 

You will be guided by individual panels describing the place and its surroundings, interesting moments from its history and present, with accompanying captioned documentary images. The educational trail titled “Most Interesting Places in Prague 3 and Changes in the 19th and 20th Centuries”, compiled by Prague 3 City Hall, provides a comprehensive outline of urbanism, its evolution and character, key changes in building development, and the related prominent personalities and events. You can begin your leisurely walk at Churchillovo náměstí (Churchill Square), but it’s fine to start elsewhere or split the walk. The panels are not numbered and are not in any particular order. They are arranged here so that you do not miss any of them. 

→ Seifertova Street → 1 nám. Winstona Churchilla 

The first panel is located at náměstí Winstona Churchilla (Winston Churchill Square, between the tram stops Hlavní nádraží and Viktoria Žižkov), which has probably been most thoroughly explored by students of the University of Economics, which stands at one end of the square. The square is named after the prominent British statesman Winston Churchill, whose statue was unveiled here in 1999. On the corner of the square and Seifertova Street stands the striking newly reconstructed Functionalist building of the former Všeobecný pensijní ústav (General Pension Institute), later Dům odborových svazů (Trade Union Building), and now Dům Radost (Joy Building). Built in 1934 on a cross-shaped footprint, the building with its 52 metres was Prague’s very first skyscraper. The roof, which is open to the public in summer, offers an exceptional view not only of the Žižkov neighbourhood. 

→ 2 Siwiecova Street 

The side entrance to the home stadium of the FK Viktoria Žižkov football team gives you the chance to learn about the most famous era of the Žižkov club. 

→ U Rajské zahrady 

Our tip: before turning into Vlkova Street, take one of the entrances to Rajská zahrada (Garden of Eden) on the right. After a short climb, you will be rewarded with a beautiful view from the gazebo. You can stretch on the fitness installations or recharge at the café at the lower end of the park. 

→ Vlkova → 3 Sladkovského náměstí 

The bottom part of so-called upper Žižkov is dominated by the Neo-Gothic Church of St. Prokop designed by Josef Mocker. The height of the cross vault reaches 16 metres, while the tower is 73 metres high. The massive Neo-Renaissance building of the Karel Sladkovský Grammar School, one of the oldest secondary schools in Prague, surrounds the church on the entire southern side of the square. Owing to the high teaching standard and number of famous graduates, the grammar school was formerly nicknamed the “Sorbonne of Žižkov”. 

→ Čajkovského → Bořivojova → Víta Nejedlého → 4 Fibichova 

On route to the next panel, you will walk past the Akropolis Palace, a multi-purpose building with Neo-Classical and Art Deco elements, and the imposing former Intercity and International Telephone Exchange, both dating from the 1920s. 

Mahlerovy Sady park is a place touched by the past, which is preserved in an inconspicuous part of the old Jewish cemetery, contrasting with the modern technical design of the Žižkov television transmitter. The Old Jewish Cemetery was established in 1680 as a burial ground for the Prague Jewish Community and is an important historical monument. Over 40,000 people were buried here, among them a number of important rabbis and scholars. At 216 metres, the Žižkov TV tower, the main landmark of Žižkov and indeed the whole of Prague, is undoubtedly the tallest building in the city. The authors of the 1980s project are the architects V. Aulický and J. Kozák. Giant sculptures of babies by leading Czech artist David Černý crawl all over the outside of the tower. Can you count all ten? 

→ Pospíšilova → 5 Škroupovo náměstí 

The common name “upper” Žižkov refers to an area with its imaginary centre at Škroupovo náměstí Square, which represents a transition between the typical old Žižkov district and Vinohrady.  Although it may not seem like it, this circular square with a circular park in the middle is 150 metres in diameter. It is surrounded by urban development typical of Vinohrady, consisting of more modern and specious regularly defined blocks. It went down in modern history as the site of the first permitted dissident demonstration, convened by Charta 77 in December 1988, at which Vaclav Havel made a public political speech demanding the release of political prisoners. 

→ Blodkova → Laubova → 6 nám. Jiřího z Poděbrad 

The main area of the square is occupied by a city park, created in the 19th and 20th centuries on the site of the original gardens. Since 1932, the area has been dominated by the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, the most important Czech sacral building of the 20th century. The modern and highly distinctive building, designed by Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik, attracts attention with its immense round window in a 42-metre-high flat tower across the entire width of the building. Originally, it let the morning light into the temple, and later it was fitted with a clock with a diameter of 7.6 metres. Plečnik also contributed to some extent to the interior of the church, which is as original as the exterior. 

Another prominent building on the square is the white elementary school building of 1913. The circular granite fountain called Sjednocená Evropa (United Europe), built during the construction of the Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station in 1981, is the work of Petr Šedivý. 

→ Milešovská → Ondříčkova → 7 Čajkovského 

Atrium, a unique cultural centre hidden among apartment buildings, was established in a renovated Baroque chapel. The nave was converted into a concert hall and a modern extension with an exhibition space was added to the Baroque building. In the middle of the square atrium, at the site of the former wooden well, stands a fountain in the form of a shell with the sculpture of a Sitting Girl. Above the entrance, artist David Černý’s Mimino (Baby) statue looks down on visitors. The bistro with patio service offers excellent coffee. Will you stop by?  

You can continue to the right → Kubelíkova Street or return and continue to Olšanské náměstí Square along 

→ Ondříčkova Street past the park-like Žižkovo náměstí Square, the entire eastern side of which is occupied by the Higher Vocational School of Applied Arts and the Secondary School of Applied Arts. The building was constructed in 1924-1927 in the style of modern Classicism based on a project by architect František Vahala. 

→ 8 Táboritská → 

You are walking through the former village of Olšany, now commemorated only by names such as Olšanská Street, Olšanské náměstí Square or the Olšany Cemeteries. In the second half of the 19th century, the village essentially merged with the developing Žižkov neighbourhood. The redevelopment of the 1970s brought a definitive end to the last remnants of Olšany and old Žižkov. That the houses in the area between Bulhar and Masarykovo nádraží train station were not razed to the ground and that panel apartment blocks were built only around Olšanské náměstí is owed to the delays in construction and the fall of the regime in the late 1980s. 

→ Olšanské náměstí → 9 Jičínská 

One of the places most affected by the Žižkov redevelopment is topographically only the end of Táboritská Street: This means that officially, Olšanské náměstí Square is only the space at the intersection of Táboritská and Jičínská Streets, although it is generally considered to be the entire area around the tram stops. The name was coined in 1930 and is still in use today. 

On the corner of Olšanské náměstí and Jičínská Street, surrounded by greenery, is the Church of St. Roch, Sebastian and Rosalie. It is incorrectly referred to as a rotunda, but it was built in 1680 and the impetus for its construction came from the plague epidemic that struck Prague at the beginning of that year. To bury the dead, individual Prague towns had to establish burial grounds outside the city walls. As a result, three plague cemeteries were established in the village of Olšany – the old town cemetery (now near the Church of St. Roch), the new town cemetery (near today’s Atrium) and the Jewish cemetery (under the TV tower). Today, the Church of St.  Roch is the oldest building in Žižkov, and one of two Baroque structures in the neighbourhood. Another separate educational trail through Olšanské hřbitovy (the Olšany Cemeteries) also begins at the shrine. With an area of more than 50 hectares, the Olšany Cemeteries are the central and largest cemetery complex in Prague and the largest burial ground in the Czech Republic. They consist of a total of 12 cemeteries. Some 2,000,000 dead have been buried here in the course of their existence. The Olšany Cemeteries are an important monument with a highly valuable artistic collection of funerary sculpture and architecture from the Classicist period to the present day. Among others, there are works by e.g. F. Platzer, V. Prachner, J. V. Myslbek, B. Schnirch, J. Štursa, J. Kotěra, O. Zoubek, and more. One of the sections is also the New Jewish Cemetery, where the grave of the writer Franz Kafka is located. 

→ Olšanská → 10 corner park at Olšanská/Jana Želivského 

Head to the last signboard on the first part of the walk along Olšanská Street – you will pass the Telecommunications Headquarters building from the late 1970s. The eighteen-storey compound, built in the high-tech and Brutalism styles, functionally replaced the inadequate telephone exchange in Fibichova Street, to which it is connected by a 2-km-long underground collector. Take a good look at the other buildings – they will disappear completely in August 2024, as they are currently being demolished. The far end of Olšanská Street is closed in by the largest preserved Functionalist industrial building in Prague, whose extraordinary scope dominates the border area between Žižkov and Strašnice. The Žižkov Freight Station was built on an area of almost 35 hectares based on a project by architects Karel Caivas and Vladimír Weiss and was completed in 1937. It was used to transfer goods (primarily foodstuffs) from trains to trucks. Although general operation was officially shut down in 2002, the station is still used (not only) as a wholesale warehouse and transshipment point. The main building, with a reinforced concrete skeleton, has two four-tract wings with two floors and two basements, and covered ramps running along the ground floor – on the inside for trains, on the outside for trucks, which can be admired in the film Wanted (2008) starring Angelina Jolie, which was shot here. Even today, the steel bridges over the track create an inimitable industrial atmosphere. 
The main Functionalist buildings were declared a cultural monument in 2013. 

Arrangement of panels 

• Prague’s first “skyscraper” and its surroundings – on the edge of náměstí W. Churchilla Square from Seifertova Street
• Hurrah for Viktorka – at the side entrance to the stadium from Siwiecova Street
• Church of St. Prokop and its surroundings – in the park on the corner of Sladkovského náměstí Square and Čajkovského Street
• Contrasts – Fibichova Street, edge of the park near the old Jewish cemetery
• Upper Žižkov – park on Škroupovo náměstí Square
• Jiřího z Poděbrad Square – southern section in front of the church on the edge of the lawn
• Spiritual life in Žižkov – Atrium in Žižkov, greenery in the foreground
• Extinct village of Olšany – greenery and flower bed opposite Olšanka, in front of the ground floor of the panel building in Olšanská Street
• Cemeteries – near St. Roch, in the park on the Jičínská Street side
• Žižkov Freight Station – corner park in Jana Želivského Street facing the station

Map of the entire educational trail(i.e. blue and red trail) 

If you want to combine the two routes of the educational trail, you can take the tram from Nákladové nádraží Žižkov to Chmelnice (tram 9, 10; 2 km) and follow the second part of the route  in reverse order.