Mánes Bridge

The Mánes Bridge is the ninth bridge over the Vltava River in Prague. It was built at a place of a former ferry to a fishing village. Its predecessor that connected the Old Town and Lesser Town Klárov was an iron suspension bridge for pedestrians.

The bridge was built between 1911 - 1914, but fully completed later in 1916. It was created based on the project by František Mencl and Alois Nový. Several other architects such Pavel Janák, Vlastmil Hofman a Mečislav Petrů participated as well.

The bridge is 186 meters long and 16 meters wide. It is divided into 4 segmental arches. These days there is a tram line, it is also used by cars and on each side there is a sidewalk for pedestrians. The Mánes Bridge underwent reconstruction in 1992 - 1994.

The architectural detail corresponds to the Czech Cubism. The bridge was decorated with sculptures by leading Czech figural friezes with subjects from the life of the Vltava swimmers. On both sides there are little fountains with gargoyles and on the Lesser Town side you can see the Prague coat of arms symbols.

On its opening the bridge was named after the Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este, later in 1920 it was named after Josef Mánes. In 2009 a Walk of Fame was founded on the bridge and brass statues of Czech composers are being gradually installed on it.