Holocaust Monument Gate of No Return and Bubny Train Station

Brana nenavratna (Gate of no Return) is a work of art created by the Czech sculptor Aleš Veselý (1935-2015). This memorial stands in front of the former Bubny train station in the Holešovice district of Prague and was a departure point for transports during the Holocaust. Now the station building serves as Památník ticha Bubny, Bubny Monument of Silence.

Holocaust Monument Gate without Return

The artwork Brana nenavratna, Gate of No Return, represents a 20-meter high railway track pointing up to the sky. The monument stands on the path that the Jewish deportees followed before boarding the trains. It is a rail track without a destination, a rail track that leads to infinity, Jacob’s symbolic ladder. The former station hall is now a memorial room for thematic temporary exhibitions. However, the station hall is not always open.

Bubny Station in the Past

During World War II, Praha-Bubny Railway Station was the departure point for transports to tens of thousands of Prague’s Jewish residents to the concentration and extermination camps, to Łódź and also Theresienstadt, Terezín in Czech.

Bubny Station in the Future

In the near future, the station will be converted into a modern gallery that will house a permanent exhibition about the Holocaust. The area will also be redeveloped into a new district. The intention is to name one of the new streets after Sir Nicholas Winton who brought more than five hundred Jewish children safely to England just before the Second World War. He is honoured with a bronze statue at Prague Central Station.

The unveiling of the memorial took place in 2015 and was a symbolic first step towards transforming Bubny Station into the ‘Memorial of Silence’, a project that has not yet been realized.

Getting there

Although only local trains use the Praha-Bubny station, it is one of the larger stations in Prague with 20 tracks and 6 platforms. There is no public transport in the immediate vicinity. The walking distance to Vltavska metro station is 10 minutes.

Address: Bubenska, Holesovice Show map