Prague Districts: Holešovice - part I.

Relatively little changed in the neighborhood in the first half of the 20th century, and, as in Karlin, the communist years preserved Holešovice through passive neglect, although construction of the the northern section of the Magistrála highway had a considerable impact in the 1980s. The traffic may have been eased, but it made Holešovice noisier and dirtier.

Further and more profound changes swept through the neighborhood in the last two decades, as the role of Holešovice has been transformed. As part of a regeneration strategy and to ease pressure on the city center, urban planners chose a number of inner neighborhood districts for redevelopment, including Holešovice. Companies have been encouraged to locate there, and a cluster of new multi-storey landmarks such as the Light House office block have been built, dramatically changing the city skyline. Over the last few years, the harbour has been redeveloped as a prestigious residential waterfront project, and the new apartments contrast strikingly with the austere and brilliant monochrome photographs of the harbour taken by Jan Reich. The former Holešovice brewery has been converted into mixed-use development including apartments, offices and shops, and the recently established Centre for Contemporary Art (DOX) is another stage in the transformation of Holešovice.

Parts of Holešovice have suffered from neglect for decades, most notably, Bubny station (Nádraží Bubny) and the adjacent railroad yard. Developer Orco intends to turn this into a mixed use “city within a city“, becoming one of the biggest redevelopment projects in Central Europe. The proposal for the 27-hectare site, has been halted due to the finance issues, although the Prague 7 borough approved Orco´s change to the district master plan. The project is expected to take off later this decade.

For pedestrians, the center is just within reach from Holešovice, especially from the area around Vltavská metro station, although they will have to contend with traffic, fumes and noise. Journey times between the downtown and Karlín by metro and tram should take no more than 10 minutes.  

Vltavská and Nádraží Holešovice metro stations, both on Line C (Letňany to Háje) serve the district and both are major tram interchanges. As they are on Line C, they are directly connected to Prague´s main train station (Praha hlavní nádraží) and Florenc bus station.

Holešovice is well served by trams: numbers 1,3, 5, 12, 14, 17 and 25 pass through the district and all operate at some point along part of the circuit formed by Dukelských hrdinů/U Výstaviště/Plynární/Komunárdu and Bubenské nabřeží. Tram number 5 starts in Holešovice, at Výstavište, and runs to Olšanské hrbitovy. With regard to night services, numbers 53 and 54 run through Holešovice.

In terms of local bus services, a number of services from the northern suburbs start or terminate at Nádraží Holešovice, from where there are metro and tram connections. Otherwise, the only other bus routes passing through the district are night bus numbers 505 and 511.

Nádraží Holešovice is one of Prague´s principal railway stations, and suburban (Esko), national services, mainly to north and northwest Bohemia, pass through it. International services to Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna and Budapest also operate from Nádraží Holešovice.

Adjacent to Nádraží Holešovice is a bus station (Autobusové nádraží Holešovice), which serves towns in Central Bohemia such as Mělník, and North Bohemia.

The distribution of green space in Holešovice is very asymmetrical: there is very little in the area east of Bubenská but an abundance on the western fringe of the district, at Stromovka, one of Prague´s largest and best loved parks. A whole range of activities can be enjoyed there (see article “Prague´s open spaces”). Although not strictly speaking in Holešovice, the park at Letná (see “Prague´s open spaces”) is also deservedly popular. As both parks are located west of Bubny station, tram is the best way to reach them.

As in Karlín, new build projects are concentrated in the upper range of the market. Prices for new build flats range from CZK 43,000 per square meter to CZK 58,000 per meter.