Sovovy mlýny / Sova's Mills - Museum Kampa (Prague)
N 50° 05.031 E 014° 24.509
33U E 457681 N 5548121
White neo-Gothic complex of former Sova's Mills (Sovovy mlýny), situated on a prominent site in Kampa island close to Charles Brige, belongs among the best examples of successful conversion of former industrial building in Prague...
Waymark Code: WMV66Y
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/02/2017
Views: 37
In the picturesque building of Sovovy mlýny (Sova's mills) on the Kampa island, that was several times rebuilt since the Middle Ages, you can find the Prague’s most dynamic and contemporary modern art museum - the Museum Kampa. You will find here among others a rich collection of works by František Kupka and Otto Gutfreund.
The earliest written mention of the mills on Kampa is from 1393, but the mills were here much earlier. The name to be known after burgher Václav Sova of Liboslav, the owner, who built the house, the mills, the iron-mill together with the grinding mill, sawmill and many other buildings. Originally the Gothic mills were later rebuilt into a Renaissance style.
After 1850, the entrepreneur František Odkolek acquired the mills and had them converted to neo-Gothic steam mills hiring architectects Josef Schulz and Josef Zítek in 1858. Odkolek's mill burned down in 1896 and what was left of it became the property of the Prague community. The front part of the building on the river was demolished in 1920 with the regulation of the river and the construction of the lock Smíchov. The remaining buildings were slowly delapidating, but eventually were rebuilt into a new Museum Kampa in 1998-2003.