The Negrelli Viaduct is a unique technical and cultural monument connecting the banks of the Vltava River, until 1910 it was even the longest viaduct in Central Europe. It is one of the most important technical structures of Prague and the Czech Republic, built in 1850 as the main line between Vienna – Prague – Dresden. The viaduct between Karlín and Holešovice is 1100 m long and has 99 arches.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the arches of the viaduct housed several small workshops, one of which was the Prague company Velox, which operated a “Grand Garage” for 50 cars and 100 motorcycles”, at the time the exclusive and largest garage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even one of the first airplanes was built here.
In the triangular part of the railway tracks between the arches of the Negrelli Viaduct, the Prague Florenc bus station was built after World War II. Since the 1950s, the spaces under the arches of the Negrelli Viaduct were perceived as residual and used mainly as warehouses or parking lots.
Only a hundred years after its commissioning has the perfect work of Negrelli’s engineers become apparent, with trains many times heavier than Negrelli could have envisaged in his time passing over the viaduct. Negrelli’s viaduct, like the Charles Bridge, survived the Prague flood in the summer of 2002 while fully operational. It was planned with such a margin that even the largest flood to date did not exceed it.
In 2018, a two-year reconstruction of the Negrelli Viaduct began, during which the bridge was cleaned and renovated, and the steel bridges were replaced.
The aim of CCEA’s activities is to highlight the exclusive structure and to use the space under the viaduct for creative purposes, small studios, bistros, shops, music rehearsal rooms, galleries, studios and workshops after the renovation.