Castle Map

Fortress

Hunger Wall

Czech Republic · 14th century

Founded
1360
Heritage status
part of cultural heritage site in the Czech Republic
Location
Malá Strana
Coordinates
50.083°, 14.395°
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Hunger Wall in the Czech Republic
Photo: Che · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Hunger Wall (Czech: Hladová zeď) is a medieval defensive wall of the Lesser Town of Prague, today's Czech Republic. It was built on Petřín Hill between 1360 and 1362 by order of Charles IV.

Marl from quarries on Petřín Hill was used as construction material. The purpose of the construction was to strengthen the fortifications of Prague Castle and Malá Strana against any attack from the west or south. Originally the wall was 4 to 4.5 metres high and 1.8 metres wide and was equipped with battlements and (probably) eight bastions.

The wall was repaired in 1624, further strengthened in the middle of 18th century and repaired or modified several times later (in modern era in 1923-25 and 1975). One of preserved bastions serves as a base for the dome of Štefánik Observatory.

A well preserved part of the wall may also be found in the interior yard of the 19th-century house in Plaská Street No.8.

Text adapted from “Hunger Wall” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Hunger Wall ranks #2,041 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #45 of the 243 mapped in Czech Republic. Founded 1360, it is older than 54% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 758 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,883 times in the last 60 days, more than 77% of the atlas. 26 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Prague, 2 km away. It is one of the 189 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Bohemia. It is stop 14 of 28 on the Bohemian castle route, Prague to Český Krumlov. See how Czech Republic compares in the castle statistics.

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