The castle will not open this year due to the renovation of the lower part of the Deer Moat

Prague - The summer tourist season, which the Prague Castle began a week ago, will this year have to do without the lower part of the Deer Moat. It is set for reconstruction, which will last for ten months. This was reported by the irozhlas.cz website. According to the spokesperson of the Prague Castle Administration, David Šebek, the northern curtain wall on the southern slope of the moat will be reconstructed. The work will cost 67 million crowns.

The reconstruction also affects some buildings, including the revision and replacement of the existing roofing. The repairs will also include a footbridge, an observation terrace, and stairs in the inner courtyard by Mihulka, as well as landscaping along the walls to improve visitor movement.

The Deer Moat is a ravine beneath Prague Castle. It covers an area of over eight hectares and is named because, in the time of Rudolf II, game was kept there. It stretches along the Brusnice stream from U Brusnice street to the large bend of Chotkovy viaduct.

The moat is divided into an upper and lower part by the earthen bank of the Powder Bridge, which has a tunnel for pedestrians. The upper part of the moat remains open. One can descend into this part from the Na Baště garden via the Cyclopean staircase, from U Brusnice street via a path in the slope, or directly from the Powder Bridge. At the bottom of the moat, there is a meadow and the former bear keeper's house. Above the moat, opposite the Sternberg Palace, is the restored Masaryk viewpoint by Josip Plečnik. The viewpoint offers an unusual perspective on the premises of Prague Castle, Hradčany, and Petřín.

A path leads to the lower part of the moat from the bend of Chotkovy road, and access is also available next to the Powder Bridge from the edge of the Royal Garden. In 2017, some entrances to the lower part of the moat were closed citing security measures. As such, it is no longer possible to walk through the entire length of the Deer Moat, and some of the paths reconstructed in the 1990s, according to critics, lack purpose.