Amusement park in Prague (mostly known under the traditional name ''Lunapark'', which is a common name of amusement parks in Czech), is situated in the territory of the Prague Fairground
Výstaviště Praha in
Prague-
Bubeneč
Bubeneč is a district in the north-west of Prague. 52% of the district is in Prague 7, but most of the built-up area is in Prague 6. Sparta Prague football club and their stadium Generali Arena is situated at the south-eastern edge of Bubeneč, ...
, nearby
Holešovice. It was one of the few grounds in the
Czech Republic that permanently hosted amusement attractions like
roller coaster
A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...
and
ferris wheel, however, since 2018, those two permanent attractions were removed and are present only during the funfairs seasons. The park host
funfairs in spring and autumn seasons.
Fairs
St. Matthew's Fair ''(Matějská pouť)'' is usually held from end of February to April and Wenceslas Autumn Fair ''(Václavská podzimní pouť)'' from September to October.
St Matthew's Fair
/ref> The Matthew's fair is the most popular and biggest funfair in Czech Republic and host attractions like the Hammer Booster which is 60 meters high and is the highest in Europe and other around 130 attractions. Amusement park is closed from the beginning of November to the end of February.
History
St. Matthew's Fair (Matějská pouť) has very old tradition, which dates back to 1595, originally as the pilgrimage of Saint Matthew to the Church of St. Matthew in Dejvice (history of the church dates to the 10th century). Since then, the tradition of the Matthew's pilgrimages has been developed. The pilgrimage route started near the current Hradčanská metro station of Prague and led to the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk, where a parish fair took place. The parish fair gradually moved to the lower sections of the pilgrimage, especially to today's Victory Square (Vítězné náměstí) in Dejvice. During the First Czechoslovak Republic, approximately a quarter of a million people participated in this pilgrimage. However, the development of Dejvice forced this fair to move from this place in the 1960s. After several places ( Letná, Modřany, Břevnov) the fair permanently moved to Výstaviště Praha in Bubeneč (nearby Dejvice). Secularization of Czech society caused the religious origins of the fairs to be largely forgotten. In the 1990s, the number of St. Matthew's Fair visitors approached one million. The fairground is now run by the Incheba company, the fair by Kočka company, both owned by Kočka family.
References
External links
{{Commons category, Amusement park at the Prague Fairground
Official Matthias fair pagePlanetarium HomepageSea World Aquarium
* Industrial Palace
Amusement parks in the Czech Republic
Buildings and structures in Prague
Tourist attractions in Prague
Prague 7