Petřín Lookout Tower

The year was 1889. Paris was hosting a World Fair, and on the occasion, the Eiffel Tower was opened. Representatives from the Czech Club of Tourists had visited the fair, and the tower had so impressed them that they decided they would “bring” it to Prague. The new observation tower was erected on Petřín Hill, at a height of over a hundred metres above the city centre and the banks of the Vltava. Thanks to this, the Petřín Tower, even at a height of a mere 65 metres, offers a view comparable to that from Paris’s Eiffel Tower.

The observation tower was opened in 1891, and similar to the tower in Paris, it was accompanied by a Jubilee National Fair. The inspiration from its more majestic French counterpart is only a loose one, but for that, it exudes a charming atmosphere of the Belle Époque. During a visit to occupied Prague in 1939, Adolf Hitler apparently called for its removal. Fortunately, no one heeded his call, and the “little Eiffel” on Petřín still stands to this day.