Folimanka Park, offbeat and without tourists

Folimanka Park a small park located in the Nuselské údolí, the Nusle valley. Even though it is quite close to the centre, not many tourists go there. The park is built in three layers and clearly shows that Prague was built on hills. You’ll find a babbling brook, Gothic city walls, blossoming trees in spring, a Cold War air raid shelter, bronze and stone sculptures, playgrounds, a sports hall and lots of benches. The park is located right under the Nusle Bridge, a half-kilometer wide highway that connects the Vinohrady district with the Nusle district. This relatively small park is well worth a visit if you want to see offbeat Prague.

Folimanka sights

1. Folimanka bunker
2. Folimanka sports hall
3. Sculptures
4. Outdoor sports park Jamrtál
5. Botič River
6. Bastion XXXI

1. Folimanka Bunker

Behind a fortified entrance door on Pod Karlovem Street hides a maze of corridors and rooms. Folimanka Bunker (Kryt Folimanka) was a civilian air-raid shelter in case of nuclear attacks on the city offering shelter to 1,300 people and providing food and other supplies for 72 hours.
The tunnel complex consists of dormitories, showers, medical facilities, morgues and technical equipment to purify air and water and was built into a rocky cliff in the 1950s. The bunker is technically in excellent condition and could be used immediately in an emergency. In one of the rooms hangs a large map of Prague 2 showing the location of all air-raid shelters in this part of the city.

Ventilation domes that purify the air from radioactive dust particles are scattered throughout the park. In 2017, unknown graffiti artists transformed one of the air vents into the Star Wars robot R2D2. To really make it look like a robot, two pieces of concrete were added on either side as the droid’s legs.

The R2D2 is in the upper part of the park, leading down from Lublaňská Street.

Opening hours
The air-raid shelter is open to the public once a month on Saturdays from 9am to 3pm. Visitors can roam freely and admission is free. To get a good look at the bunker you need about an hour. The temperature is a constant 18 °C.
The entrance is on Pod Karlovem street opposite number 2.

Minions in Folimanka
In 2022, two more ventilation domes underwent a metamorphosis. Two Minions are now on either side of a walkway in the higher part of the park and easier to spot than the R2D2 which stands on a wooded hillock.

2. Folimanka Sports Hall and Nusle Bridge

The concrete Nuselský most (Nusle Bridge), opened in 1973 and runs high across Folimanka Park. More about the Nusle Bridge.

In the eastern part of Folimanka is the Brutalist-style Sportovní hala Folimanka, built between 1972 and 1976 by Jiří Siegel, architect and basketball player. The characteristics of brutalism are large block-like structures of rough unfinished reinforced concrete or masonry. Amateur sport clubs, mainly basketball teams, play in the sports hall. At the time, the sports hall was a prestige project and allocated a large budget. In communist days, 4% of such a budget had to be spent on public art. That’s why there are several sculptures in the park.

3. Sculptures

* Three (Tři)- Bohumil Zemánek 1974
‘Three’ is a fountain with bronze statues of three children playing in the water.

* Bear Family (Medvědí rodina‎) -Václav Frydecký, 1976
Made of sandstone and often vandalized, the Bear Family and when covered in graffiti which is quickly removed. In winter, the bears sometimes wear hats and warm scarves donated by passers-by.

* Basketball Player (Basketbalista‎)- Zdeněk Němeček, 1977
In front of the sports hall is the bronze sculpture of a basketball player concentrating on scoring.

* Gymnast (Gymnastka‎)- Václav Frydecký, 1981
Behind the sports hall is the bronze sculpture Gymnast. It depicts a young woman bending in a graceful pose.

* Skateboarder (Skateboardista) – Jaroslav Hladký, 1982
This is the world’s oldest skateboard statue dating back to 1981. In 2006, vandals destroyed it by chopping off the arms that were most likely sold for scrap. A reconstruction of the arms could be made on the basis of old photographs. The statue has been back in the park since 2022.

* Undressing (Svlékání) – Jiří Kryštůfek, 1982
This sculpture stands on a path leading to a higher part of the park. It shows a young girl taking off her dress over her head. Another statue of the same artist ‘Dívka s holubicí’ (girl with a dove) is in front of the St Ludmila church on namesti Miru in Prague.

* Memento Mori – (Z vlastniho rozhodnutí) Krištof Kintera, 2011
Just below the Nusle Bridge is a modern work of art. ‘At your discretion – Memento mori. It is a street lamp with the top part turned so that the lamp illuminates the sky. It commemorates the many people who committed suicide by jumping from the bridge during communist days. More about lamp posts in Prague

4. Jamrtál outdoor sports park

Jamrtál outdoor sports park is located under the Nusle Bridge. In spring, summer and autumn the park is open for roller sports, in winter there is an ice rink. There are also two Pétanque courts, a yoga space, ping pong tables and interactive water features for children. The area is also attractive for non-athletes, as there are picnic tables and barbecues.
Jamrtál from the German word Jammertal (valley of tears) was the former name of the Nusle Valley and a reference to the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), a war between the catholic Holy Roman Empire and protestant Habsburg.

5. Botič River

On the south side of the park, a number of pedestrian bridges cross the Botič River, whose source is in Central Bohemia, and flows 21 kilometers through Prague to empty into the Vltava River.

The river is mentioned in the Czech national anthem, “Kde domov můj” (Where my home is), in the line “Voda hucí po lucinách” (water babbles through the meadows). This is a quote from the play ‘Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka’ by Josef Kajetán Tyl (1808-1856).

Fidlovačka was a popular spring festival of Prague shoemakers, which took place every year on the Wednesday after Easter in the Nusle valley near th

6. Bastion XXXI

The bunker is not the only defensive structure in the park. Entering Folimanka from the upper part, you will walk past Prague’s historic city walls. They ware built in the fourteenth century to protect Nové Město, which was planned and developed during the reign of Charles IV. At Bastion XXXI, Bastion U Božích muk (At the Passion of Christ), there are a steep stairs leading to Folimanka.

A Brief History

Folimanka dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was an agricultural area. During the reign of Charles IV (1316-1378), this area was full of vines. The vineyard was owned by Jakub Folman after whom the park was named.

Getting there
Folimanka is reached on foot from metro station IP Pavlova, or for those who don’t like walking, take tram 6 or 11 to Pod Karlovem. On the north side the park is Zahrada Ztracenka (The Garden of the Lost) and the little-visited Bastion XXXI Park which is hidden in a restored sections of the old city walls.