Holešovice
Tucked into a U-bend in the River Vltava, the late nineteenth-century suburb of Holešovice boasts two huge splodges of green: Letná, overlooking the city centre, and, to the north, Stromovka, Prague’s largest public park, bordering the Výstaviště funfair and trade fair grounds. A stroll through the park brings you to the Baroque chateau of Troja and the leafy zoo. Two important art museums are located in Holešovice – the city’s main museum of modern art, Veletržní Palace, and the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Few tourists make it out here, but it’s worth the effort, if only to remind yourself that Prague doesn't begin and end at Charles Bridge.
Letná
A high plateau hovering above the city, the flat green expanse of the Letná plain has long been the traditional assembly point for invading and besieging armies. Under the Communists, it was used primarily for the annual May Day parades, during which thousands trudged past the Sparta Prague stadium, where the Communist leaders would salute from their giant red podium. It once boasted the largest Stalin monument in the world: a 30m-high granite sculpture portraying a procession of Czechs and Russians being led to Communism by the Pied Piper figure of Stalin, but popularly dubbed tlačenice (the crush) because of its resemblance to a Communist-era bread queue. The monument was unveiled on May 1, 1955, but within a year Khrushchev had denounced Stalin, and the monument was blown up in 1962. On the site of the Stalin statue, overlooking the Vltava, stands a symbolic giant red metronome (which is lit up at night).
View from Letná
Bílkova vila
Mieckiewiczova 1 
ghmp.cz. Tues–Sun 10am–6pm. 120Kč.
The Bílkova vila, an undervisited branch of the Prague City Gallery, honours one of the most original of all Czech sculptors, František Bílek (1872–1941). Built in 1911 to the artist’s own design, the house was intended as both a “cathedral of art” and the family’s (rather lavish) home. The outside is lined with columns reminiscent of ancient Egypt; inside, Bílek’s extravagant religious sculptures line the walls of his “workshop and temple”. In addition to his sculptural and relief work in wood and stone, often wildly expressive and spiritually tortured, there are also ceramics, graphics and a few mementoes of Bílek’s life. His living quarters have also been restored and have much of the original wooden furniture, designed and carved by Bílek himself, still in place. Check out the dressing table for his wife, shaped like some giant church lectern, and the wardrobe decorated with a border of hearts, a penis, a nose, an ear and an eye plus the sun, stars and moon.
Sculpture by František Bílek, Bílkova vila
Chotkovy sady
Prague’s first public park, the Chotkovy sady, was founded in 1833 by the ecologically minded city governor, Count Chotek. The atmosphere here is relaxed and you can happily stretch out on the grass and soak up the sun, or head for the south wall, for an unrivalled view of the bridges and islands of the Vltava. At the centre of the park there’s a bizarre, melodramatic grotto-like memorial to the nineteenth-century Romantic poet Julius Zeyer, an elaborate monument from which life-sized characters from Zeyer’s works, carved in white marble, emerge from the blackened rocks.
National Technical Museum (Národní technické muzeum)
Kostelní 42 ntm.cz. Tues–Fri 9am–5.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm. 190Kč.
Despite its dull name, this museum is surprisingly interesting, with a showpiece hangar-like main hall containing an impressive gallery of Czech and foreign motorbikes, plus a wonderful collection of old planes, trains and automobiles from Czechoslovakia’s industrial heyday between the wars – when the country’s Škoda cars and Tatra soft-top stretch limos were really something to brag about. Other displays trace the development of early photography, while there’s an excellent exhibit focusing on Czech architectural feats from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present, and a collection of some of Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe’s astronomical instruments.
Veletržní palác (Trade Fair Palace)
Dukelských hrdinů 45 ngprague.cz. Tues–Sun 10am–6pm. 250Kč.
The Veletržní palác gets nothing like the number of visitors it should. For not only does the building house Prague’s best twentieth-century Czech and international art collection, it is also an architectural sight in itself. Built in 1928, the palace is Prague’s ultimate functionalist masterpiece, particularly its vast white interior.
The gallery is bewilderingly big and virtually impossible to view in its entirety in a single visit. Temporary exhibitions are housed on the first and fifth floors, while the permanent collection occupies the other three. The popular French art collection includes works by Rodin, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso, while other notable international exhibits include cover Surrealist Miró, a couple of Henry Moore sculptures and a perforated Lucio Fontana canvas. There are also a few pieces by Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and Munch, whose influence on early twentieth-century Czech art was considerable.
The Czech art section starts with Impressionists Preisler and Slavíček, Cubists Čapek, Gutfreund, Filla and Kubišta, and a whole series of works by František Kupka, by far the most important Czech painter of the last century and (possibly) the first artist in the Western world to exhibit abstract paintings. Socialist Realism and performance art are not neglected either – plan on spending a full day here.
At the time of writing, the most talked-about exhibit was Mucha’s Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej), a series of twenty oversized canvases painted between 1912 and 1928 following Alfons Mucha’s return to his homeland from Paris. Having spent the Communist period in a disused chateau in Moravia, in the early 2000s the city of Prague decided the Slav Epic belonged in the capital and the cycle now hangs in the Veletržní palác as a “temporary exhibition”. Where it will go from here, if it ever does, no one knows.
DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
Poupětova 1 dox.cz. Mon, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm, Wed & Fri 11am–7pm , Thurs 11am–9pm. 180Kč.
Founded by a private initiative with the goal of making Prague a major European centre for contemporary art, the DOX Centre presents mostly group exhibitions that aim to push boundaries and introduce new dialogues. Both Czech and international artists are represented, while the organization’s educational programmes, debates and talks make it a pivotal part of the local arts scene. The sprawling building is stunning too, and features a lovely café and good design shop.
Výstaviště (Exhibition Grounds)
Dukelských hrdinů vystavistepraha.eu. Tues–Fri 2–9pm, Sat & Sun 10am–9pm. 50Kč or free.
Since the 1891 Prague Exhibition, Výstaviště has served as the city’s main trade fair arena and funfair. At the centre of the complex is the flamboyant stained-glass and wrought-iron Průmysl Palace, scene of Communist Party rubber-stamp congresses. Several modern structures were built for the 1991 Prague Exhibition, including a circular theatre, Divadlo Spirála.
The grounds are busiest at the weekend, particularly in summer, when hordes of Prague families descend to munch hot dogs and drink beer. Apart from the annual trade fairs and special exhibitions, there are a few permanent attractions: the city’s Planetárium (planetarium.cz; opening hours vary; 50–150Kč), which has static displays and shows films; the Maroldovo panorama (April–Oct Tues–Fri 1–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm; 25Kč), a giant diorama of the 1434 Battle of Lipany; and Mořský svět (morsky-svet.cz; Mon–Fri 8.30am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–7pm; 280Kč), an aquarium full of colourful tropical fish, a few rays and some sea turtles. In the long summer evenings, the Pražon restaurant shows outdoor films and hosts concerts, and there are hourly evening performances (230Kč) by the dancing Křižík Fountain, devised for the 1891 Exhibition by the Czech inventor František Křižík. Call 
220 103 224 or visit krizikovafontana.cz for details.
Průmysl Palace, Výstaviště
Lapidárium
U Výstaviště www.nm.cz. May–Nov Wed 10am–4pm, Thurs–Sun noon–6pm. 50Kč.
Official depository for the city’s sculptures which are under threat either from demolition or from the weather, the Lapidárium houses a much overlooked collection, ranging from the eleventh to the nineteenth century. Some of the statues saved from the perils of Prague’s polluted atmosphere, such as the bronze equestrian statue of St George, will be familiar if you’ve visited Prague Castle before; others, such as the figures from the towers of Charles Bridge, were more difficult to inspect closely in their original sites. Many of the original statues from the bridge can be seen here, including the ones that were fished out of the Vltava after the flood of 1890.
One outstanding sight is what remains of the Krocín fountain, a highly ornate Renaissance work in red marble, which used to grace Staroměstské náměstí. Several pompous imperial monuments that were bundled into storage after the demise of the Habsburgs in 1918 round off the museum’s collection. By far the most impressive is the bronze statue of Marshal Radecký, scourge of the 1848 revolution, carried aloft on a shield by eight Habsburg soldiers.
Getting to Troja and the zoo
To reach Troja and the zoo you can either walk from Výstaviště, catch bus #112, which runs frequently from metro Nádraží Holešovice, or take a boat (paroplavba.cz; April & Sept Sat & Sun; May–Aug daily; 190Kč) from the PPS landing place on Rašínovo nábřeží, metro Karlovo náměstí.
Stromovka
Originally laid out as hunting grounds for the noble occupants of the castle, Stromovka is now Prague’s largest and leafiest public park. If you’re heading north for Troja and the city zoo, a stroll through the park is by far the most pleasant approach. If you want to explore a little more of it, head west, sticking to the park’s southern border, and you’ll eventually come to a neo-Gothic former royal hunting chateau, which served as the seat of the Governor of Bohemia until 1918.
Troja chateau (Trojský zámek)
U trojského zámku 1 ghmp.cz. April–Oct Tues–Thurs, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm, Fri 1–6pm. 120Kč.
The Troja chateau was designed by Jean-Baptiste Mathey for the powerful Šternberg family towards the end of the seventeenth century. The best features of the rust-coloured Baroque facade are the monumental balustrades, where blackened figures of giants and titans battle it out. The star exhibits of the interior are the gushing frescoes depicting the victories of the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I (who reigned from 1657 to 1705) over the Turks, which cover every inch of the walls and ceilings of the grand hall. You also get to wander through the chateau’s pristine, trend-setting, French-style formal gardens, the first of their kind in Bohemia.
Troja chateau
Prague Zoo (Zoologická zahrada)
U trojského zámku 3 zoopraha.cz. Daily: March 9am–5pm; April, May, Sept & Oct 9am–6pm; June–Aug 9am–9pm; Nov–Feb 9am–4pm. 200Kč.
Founded in 1931 on the site of one of Troja’s numerous hillside vineyards, Prague’s zoo has had a lot of money poured into it and now has some very imaginative enclosures. All the usual animals are on show here – including elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, big cats and bears – and kids, at least, will enjoy themselves. A bonus in the summer is the chairlift (lanová dráha) from the duck pond over the enclosures to the top of the hill, where the prize exhibits – a rare breed of miniature horse known as Przewalski – hang out. Other highlights include the red pandas, the giant tortoises, the Komodo dragons, and the bats that actually fly past your face in the Twilight Zone.
Prague Zoo
Botanic Gardens (Botanická zahrada)
Nádvorní 134 botanicka.cz. Daily: March & Oct 9am–5pm; April 9am–6pm; May–Aug 9am–8pm; Sept 9am–7pm; Nov–Feb 9am–4pm. 150Kč.
Another reason for coming out to Troja is to visit the city’s Botanic Gardens, hidden in the woods to the north of the chateau. The botanic gardens feature a vineyard, a Japanese garden, several glasshouses and great views over Prague. Hidden in the woods a little higher up the hill, there’s also a spectacular, curvaceous greenhouse, Fata Morgana (same hours but closed Mon), with butterflies flitting about amid the desert and tropical plants.