Prague unveils new water fountain at Wenceslas Square

As years-long renovation work continues at Prague's Wenceslas Square, Mayor Zdeněk Hřib took to Facebook to present one of the latest additions: a spouting water fountain at the square's bottom half. Now in operation, the water feature has arrived just in time to cool down visitors during the summer months.

The new fountain features sixteen water jets on a four-by-four grid that shoot water over a meter into the air. The area is surrounded by new marble benches where onlookers can sit down and cool off.

Visitors who don't mind getting a little wet are also welcome to walk right though it, as Prague's mayor did during the city's first tropical day of the year on Friday when temperatures reached over 30 degrees Celsius.

"I'm glad passers-by are enthusiastic about [the fountain]," Hřib wrote on Facebook yesterday.

"When I went here to look at it, it was literally an attraction. Adults took pictures of the fountain, [looked at it] with hands folded, and sat nearby to enjoy the cool ambient air. It was really a magnet, especially for children. They splashed enthusiastically in the fountain and ran through the streams of water. I followed their lead and it was great."

The recent addition is the latest in a series of transformations that Wenceslas Square has recently seen, in addition to new rows of trees and a larger pedestrian area. The new renovations are intended to make the area, one of Prague's most-visited locales, more pedestrian-friendly.

While work continues near the midsection of the square, which is separated by a tram line, much of the lower half of the Square is looking significantly different than it did just a few years ago.

"We know that overheated cities must respond to climate change. That's why we planted two brand new rows of trees on the square and also added the water elements," the Mayor writes.

"I'm happy to see the refurbished bottom of the square is finally getting the shape it deserves. Thank you very much to [Prague Deputy Mayor] Petr Hlaváček for that, great job!"

One of Prague's biggest hubs and a central location for the Velvet Revolution and other cultural milestones, Wenceslas Square underwent a tacky transformation in the 1990s with the addition of nightclubs, casinos, fast food stands, and other elements.

The latest renovations to Wenceslas Square, which have been taking place since 2020, are an attempt to return the location to its former glory. They will culminate with a return of a tram line down from the top of the Square for the first time in more than four decades.

"Unfortunately, everyone had always talked about improving Wenceslas Square, but nobody did anything about it," says Hřib.

"We are changing it now and we will gradually continue to enlarge the whole [pedestrian area] all the way to the National Museum. We will turn Wenceslas Square into a city display cabinet."