Old Wastewater Treatment Plant

As an extended lunch break from Prague, I visited the wastewater treatment plant in Bubeneč. The plant lies on the banks of the Vitava (Moldau) and is situated at the lowest point in Prague. Seeing that sewage needs to flow, building a wastewater treatment plan here was the sensible thing to. So sensible indeed that the modern wastewater treatment plant built in communist times is situated just across the river.

Thankfully the communists didn't tear down or redo the old plant, so Bubeneč has retained much of its original setup. The steam engines are still operational and are turned on occasionally. However, it's not longer connected to the sewerage, so you don't have to worry about smells. At the time, when all of Prague's sewage passed through, it must have smelt terribly.

The facilities are nice to explore. They offer tours, most in Czech, but you can ask questions in English. In addition, they pass out a guide. Small tip: Just read the guide before you go on the visit and put it away. You will be busy with your camera anyhow... The site is very photogenic emanating a quirky 30s, Metropolis charm. And it's quite interesting to see how a treatment plant operated.

OUV

The Czechs are very good at finding niche topics that have OUV appeal; Kladubrny . Wastewater treatment, sewerage, and safe water were key developments to make cities safe and extend human lifespans to where they are now. It's telling that we …

Just 2 weeks before my summer weekend trip to Prague, Czechia added the Old Wastewater Treatment Plant in Prague-Bubeneč to its Tentative List. Of course I immediately put it on my schedule, despite (or thanks to?) the odd subject. The site represents early 20th century state-of-the-art sewage technology and has been preserved in its original form. It is already part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage and is featured in the thematic study ‘The Water Industry as World Heritage’ from 2018. The latter states that heritage of the modern water industry is underrepresented on the List "despite its unarguable relevance to human development".

The Plant proved to be easy to reach from the Old Town where I was staying: I took the commuter train S4 for 2 stops to Praha-Podbaba, and from there it was an 8-minute walk. I arrived at 3pm, just in time to take part in one of the guided tours. These tours are conducted five times a day in the weekend and less frequently on weekdays. I joined 4 elder Czech visitors. The tour was in the Czech language, but I was given a document with explanations in English. The friendly guide also made sure in each room that I knew what I was looking at. 

Although the site has interesting surface structures (such as the Main Hall which nowadays is used for exhibitions and events), most of it lies underground. This means that a lot of climbing up and down stairs is …

This was another surprise, just after the nomination of Czech beech forests, that very new addition to the Czech T-list is the old wastewater treatment plant in the northern outer part of Prague city center - in Bubeneč, very close to Vltava river. Well, it is not such surprising as the water management-related sites are now in the focus of the UNESCO experts and state parties. Nevertheless, my secret guess to a new addition to TWHS would be another site in Prague related to water - a monumental building of the water treatment plant in the southern edge of the Prague center - in Podolí, also close to Vltava river (visit highly recommended as well). Thus, the water treatment plant in Podolí for producing drinking water is upstream but the wastewater treatment plant in Bubeneč is downstream - That sounds logical! However, I must admit that the structure in Podolí is monumental but not such unique from the point of view of industrial architecture as the waste water treatment plant in Bubeneč, which was declared as the Czech national monument in 2010 and praised by the experts on the industrial heritage. Thus the selection made by the Czech state party is understandable.

I am not such an expert and could not recognized qualities of this old building from 1906. I was aware of its existence but there was not reason to go around too often because the old wastewater treatment plant is very close to the new one, which …