The Negrelli Viaduct has arched over the Vltava River for 160 years

Prague - It is the first railway bridge in Prague over the Vltava, the second oldest standing Vltava bridge (after Charles Bridge), and with 1110 meters, the longest bridge in Prague. The Negrelli Viaduct (also known as the Karlín Viaduct), which was the longest bridge in Europe until 1910, connects Masaryk Railway Station through Štvanice Island with Bubny for 160 years - the first train with passengers to Lovosice passed over it on June 1, 1850.
    In Prague in the 1840s, there were only two bridges over the Vltava. Besides the ancient Charles Bridge, the Emperor Francis I Bridge, now known as the Legion Bridge, was only opened in November 1841.
    The decision to build the bridge, which was essential for the continuation of the North State Railway from Prague to Dresden, was made by the railway management in 1842, and by the end of 1842, an interstate agreement between Austria and Saxony was signed. It is said that the all-powerful Chancellor Metternich allegedly commented on this development by noting that this improvement would primarily benefit all scoundrels and revolutionaries, allowing them to export their subversive activities to all distant corners of Europe.
    It was planned that the construction would be entrusted once again to engineer Jan Perner, who as the chief engineer led the construction of the line between Olomouc and Prague. Unfortunately, his premature death in 1845 while passing through the Choceň Tunnel thwarted everything. He was replaced by the equally capable surveyor, engineer Alois Negrelli, who built mountain roads and railway lines in the Austrian and Swiss Alps. In his field, he was a recognized expert and later gained fame for the Suez Canal project.
    Construction work on the Empire-style stone viaduct began in the spring of 1846. The construction was carried out by the firms Bratři Kleinové and Vojtěch Lanna, with construction costs amounting to one and a half million gold coins. At that time, it was the largest railway construction in Europe, employing 3,000 workers of Czech, German, and Italian nationality. The material, which was brought by water from Kamýk nad Vltavou and processed on-site, was granite from the Schwarzenberg quarry, which is now submerged by the Orlík Reservoir, and the pillars had sandstone cladding. Lifting machines were used for the first time on a larger scale during the construction.
    The length of the viaduct was 1110 m, with an original width for a double track of 7.6 m, which was increased to a straight nine meters after the stone parapet was removed. The viaduct had 87 high arches, of which eight stood directly in the Vltava.
    Upon completion of the construction, the viaduct, which is a technical cultural monument, made an imposing impression reminiscent of the magnificent aqueducts of ancient Rome. It was captured in numerous views and photographic panoramas. Art historian Zdeněk Wirth appreciated the appearance of the viaduct as an expression of the monumentality of the Empire style in technical construction.
    In 1871, a brick Karlín connecting viaduct was added to the viaduct for direct connection between Bubny and Libeň.
    In the 20th century, the Negrelli Viaduct suffered several insensitive interventions. Some of the arches were temporarily bricked up and converted into warehouses. The original unified appearance of the structure was also disrupted by the replacement of several arches with a concrete structure. In 1952-1953, three arches above Křižíková Street in Karlín were removed to improve the passage of motor vehicles, and in 1981, the same was repeated for the same reasons above Bubenské nábřeží.
    Like Charles Bridge, the Negrelli Railway Viaduct also survived the flood of August 2002 in full operation. The viaduct was indeed designed based on experiences from the flood of 1845.