The Štěchovice Bridge, even after 85 years, amazes with the elegance of its shapes

Prague - The reinforced concrete bridge, which on May 20, 1939, connected Štěchovice with the opposite Brunšov in the place of a former ferry across the Vltava River, was one of the technical marvels of that time. The elegant structure with hollow arches and a suspended roadway was started by the experienced construction company of entrepreneur Karel Kindl in August 1937 - and it was completed in a year and three quarters.

The designer of the structure, which continues to amaze with the grace of its 114-meter long arch, was architect Miloslav Klement (1886-1969). He was also regarded as a prominent figure in the field, having on his record, for example, the first Czechoslovak reinforced concrete bridge in Týnec nad Sázavou or a similar structure over the Orlice River in Hradec Králové. In addition to bridges, which he worked on while employed by the Ministry of Public Works, Klement also worked at Prague Castle, where in the late 1920s, among other things, he designed the covering of archaeological finds there.

He also designed the presidential bathroom and participated in numerous other modifications of the Castle, but the Štěchovice bridge is probably Klement's most famous construction. At the end of World War II, he narrowly escaped destruction, as the Germans were preparing to blow it up, but the holes for the explosives remained empty. The bridge also survived the devastating floods of 2002, and this masterpiece of Czech bridge construction, which was named after Dr. Edvard Beneš after the war (it lost this name after February 1948, but it has borne it again since 1990), still stands today.