Sovovy Mlýny

The earliest written reference to mills on Kampa dates from 1393, but they had been here much earlier. The name became established after Václav Sova of Liboslav, the owner who built a house, mills, a hammer mill with a grinding shop, a sawmill and other farm buildings here. The originally Gothic mills were later rebuilt in Renaissance style.

After 1850, entrepreneur František Odkolek took over the mills and had them rebuilt as steam-powered ones by architects Josef Schulz and Josef Zítek. The Odkolek Mill burned down in 1896, and what remained passed to the Prague municipality. The front part on the riverbank was demolished in 1920 during the regulation of the river and the construction of the Smíchov Lock.

Today you'll find Museum Kampa here, with a unique collection of modern art, especially works by the Czech painter František Kupka. The collection was assembled in the USA by Czech collector Meda Mládková and her husband, who donated it as a gift to the Czech Republic. Before that, however, the necessary reconstruction of the Sovovy Mlýny site began in 2000. Modern gallery spaces with stainless-steel and glass elements were created. With the help of a helicopter, a striking artefact in the form of a giant glass cube in a metal frame was installed on the gallery building.

Many will surely remember how heritage authorities protested against this element in the view of Prague Castle. The Ministry of Culture, however, ultimately approved the installation. The visual symbol of the museum was a four-metre, over two-tonne wooden Chair, which was washed away by the great flood of 2002. It was then replaced by a new one made of poplar wood, which is even 6 m tall.

You can take in Sovovy Mlýny to your heart's content on our Prague Grand Cruise, which also includes a passage through the Smíchov Lock.