Štefánik Bridge
Architect: Vlastislav Hofman, Oldřich Širc
Year of completion: 1951
A reinforced concrete functionalist structure has been spanning the Vltava River for over 70 years. It stands in the place of its iron predecessor – the František Josef I Bridge, which was colloquially referred to as Eliska‘s, named after the monarch’s wife. Its capacity gradually became insufficient, and it was therefore replaced by the current bridge. At the time of its construction, it was named Šverm Bridge after a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, whose statue was located near the bridge on the right bank of the Vltava. However, both the statue and its name have been taken by time, and since the 1990s, the bridge has been named after a Czechoslovak Minister of Defense.