Smetana Embankment - Prague, Czech Republic
Posted by: 
ToRo61
N 50° 05.062 E 014° 24.813
33U E 458044 N 5548176
Smetana Embankment and The Bellevue house
Waymark Code: WMTZ1V
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 01/26/2017
Views: 32
The URL from (
visit link) says 'Strelecký ostrov' but this place is Smetana Embankment and Street View shows The Bellevue house :-)
The Smetana Embankment [CZ: Smetanovo nábreží] is the oldest embankment in Prague. It was designed between 1841 - 1845 and runs from the Legion Bridge to Krížovnické Square by Charles Bridge.
Originally the embankment was called Old Town Embankment, from 1894 František Embankment and from 1919 Masaryk Embankment. During World War II it held two names, between 1940 the Vltava Embankment and then from 1942 - 1945 Reinhard Heydrich Ufer. After the war until 1952 it was again given the name of the first president of Czechoslovakia, T.G. Masaryk, and then finally its current name - Smetana Embankment.
The Bellevue on Smetana Embankment (Smetanovo nábreží) was named based on the fact that it has one of the most beautiful Prague views of the Vltava River and Hradcany: Bellevue is a French word meaning a “beautiful view”. The same name was given to a café that was opened there by entrepreneur Filipi after the building completion. Previously, the Papoušek’s Bath (Papouškovy lázne) used to stand there. During the construction of a chain bridge and embankment, all buildings standing there had to be purchased: houses, baths, mills and enclosures. After completion of the bridge and embankment, the rows of residential rental houses were built according to a project by architect Bernard Gruber from 1849. The houses were designed uniformly in a temperate complexion of late Classicism. Only two-storey houses were allowed to be built there, which rule was totally broken by architect Konstantin Mrácek while designing the Bellevue house at the end of this row at a triangular site between Smetana Embankment and Karoliny Svetlé Street. The house from fair-faced dark red bricks has three wings.