Petřín, Prague

Petřín is Prague’s park-covered hill, rising above the Vltava-side district and carrying its own rocky character. Notice the exposed stone beside the paths: sandstone forms much of the rock here. For centuries, quarrying supplied building stone for Prague, including early churches at Prague Castle and a bridge across the river.

Written records mention Petřín in the year eleven oh eight, when members of the Vršovci family were executed here. The hill later became part of Charles the Fourth’s enlarged Malá Strana defences, marked by the Hunger Wall built during the fourteen sixties. Near the summit, the lookout tower recalls the Jubilee Exhibition of eighteen ninety-one, when the Czech Tourist Club had it built. Petřín holds far more than a pleasant park landscape: its ground preserves Prague’s raw material, punishment ground, defensive edge, and landmark hill.