Vinohrady Water Tower ( cs, Vinohradská vodárna) is a building in
Vinohrady
Královské Vinohrady (in English literally "Royal Vineyards" german: Königliche Weinberge) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the muni ...
in
Prague 10
Prague 10 is both a municipal and administrative district in Prague, Czech Republic with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Twin towns
*Ballerup, Denmark
*Prešov, Slovakia
*Nyíregyháza, Hungary
*Jasło, Poland
Neighbourhood ( cadastral communities ...
which was originally built as a water tower. Today its architecture is recognized as culturally important although it is now converted to accommodate offices and apartments. The viewing platform at the top is 40 metres above the street level. It’s tourism helps pay for over 20,000 dollars worth of repairs and maintenance a year.
History
The Vinohrady water tower building was created in 1882 to house steam engines and an underground reservoir. The engines pumped water up from the reservoir, creating a gravitational feed to nearby homes and businesses. Antonin Turek designed the building while he was the municipal architect.
[Water Tower of Vinohrady]
stovezata.praha.eu, retrieved 14 November 2013
The seventh floor originally contained a tank that could hold 200 cubic metres of water.
[ Initially this was pumped from the River Vltava until 1912, when the water source was switched to a plant at ]Káraný
Káraný is a municipality and village in Prague-East District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants.
Geography
Káraný lies at the confluence of the Elbe and Jizera rivers. The municipality is loca ...
. The water descended from the tank to supply Strašnice
Strašnice is a cadastral district in Prague. It became part of Prague on 1 January 1922. It lies mostly in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 10 while a small part is in Prague 3. The district is bordered by Vršovic ...
, Žižkov
Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an indep ...
and Vršovice
Vršovice is a district of Prague. All of Vršovice lies within the Prague 10 administrative district. Vršovice is located south-east of the city centre. It borders Vinohrady to the north, Nusle to the south-west, Michle to the south and Stra ...
with drinking water.[
In 1914 the tower's steam engines were replaced with electric motors. The revised system used water that was treated at a plant at Podolí and then stored in water tanks underground before being pumped to the top of this tower for use.
]
Architecture
Today its architecture is acknowledged to be of national historical importance, even though the building serves no modern purpose for water supply, as the motors, pumps and pipes have been removed. In 1993, the inside was converted to accommodate offices and apartments.[Vinohrady waterworks pump water directly from the river]
Desitka.cz, retrieved 17 November 2013 The viewing platform at the top is 40 metres above the street level – once this provided a commanding view of the area, but today it is only slightly taller than the tenements that surround the tower. On each corner there are the statues of angels with clock faces between them. Below the clocks are four medallions celebrating Vinohrady.
Desitka.cz, retrieved 17 November 2013
monumnet.npu.cz, retrieved 17 November 2013
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinohrady Water Tower
Water towers in the Czech Republic
Buildings and structures in Prague
Infrastructure completed in 1882
Prague 10