The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic. From its source below Černá hora in the Šumava it measures 430 kilometres and joins the Elbe (Labe) at Mělník; between source and mouth it descends more than 1,011 metres.[1] The Vltava and other major watercourses in its basin are administered by the state enterprise Povodí Vltavy (PVL).[2] Among other places, the river flows through České Budějovice and Prague; the drop between the two cities is 190 metres.[3]*
Course
The depth and width of the river were permanently changed by the construction of dams on the stretch from Lipno to Prague. The Vltava is widest near Černá v Pošumaví, where the banks of the Lipno reservoir are 5 km apart, and its deepest point lies at the bottom of the Orlík reservoir, 74 metres down.[1] Dozens of municipalities bear the river's name, for example Kralupy nad Vltavou, Kamýk nad Vltavou and Hluboká nad Vltavou.[1] The backwater of the Orlík dam reaches as far as Týn nad Vltavou.[3]
Navigation
Rafts and smaller boats have long travelled the Vltava, carrying mainly salt, stone and timber. Charles IV considered linking the Vltava with the Danube.[3] Under Maria Theresa the Bohemian Navigation Act was issued in 1777.[5] The first comprehensive project to make the Vltava navigable from České Budějovice to Mělník was drawn up in 1894 by the firm Lanna and Vering.[3] The Commission for the Canalisation of the Vltava and Elbe in Bohemia, established in 1896, pushed through the construction of eleven locks between Prague and the then imperial border. They ensured a navigable depth of 2.10 m and allowed vessels of 1,000 tonnes to sail.[5]
Vltava Cascade
The Vltava Cascade consists of nine water works: Lipno I, Lipno II, Hněvkovice, Kořensko, Orlík, Kamýk, Slapy, Štěchovice and Vrané.[3] After the First World War, plans for the middle Vltava pitted the interests of navigation against those of power generation. Construction of the dam at Štěchovice began in 1938 and was completed in 1945.[3] After the war the aim of building the largest possible dams to hold back large reserves of water prevailed; this produced Slapy in the St John Rapids, completed in 1955, and Orlík with Kamýk.[3] Orlík is the highest step of the cascade, with a head of up to 70.5 metres.[3] Before the Orlík reservoir was flooded, the castles of Orlík and Zvíkov were secured and some smaller buildings, such as the 12th-century church at Červená, were moved above the water line. The dam's power station has an output of 364 MW.[4] During the flood of August 2002 the reservoir reduced an inflow of 3,900 m³/s to an outflow of 3,100 m³/s.[4]
The Vltava in Prague
The predecessor of today's Charles Bridge was the stone Judith Bridge, built around 1170 by Vladislaus I; damaged by a flood, it was removed in 1342. The foundation stone of Charles Bridge was laid in 1357.[6] During the flood of August 2002 the Vltava at Velká Chuchle reached a flow of 5,160 m³/s at noon on 14 August at a water level of 782 cm and flooded Karlín among other districts.[7] Many stations and sections of the metro were under water; the last of them reopened on 22 March 2003.[8] The extent of the damage led the city to complete its flood defences faster; their mobile barriers were used during the floods of 2006 and 2013.[9]
In culture
The river has been depicted by many painters, Bedřich Smetana dedicated a symphonic poem of the same name to it, and Czech Radio named one of its national stations after it.[1]
Pages linking here
- Capital City of Prague
- Central Bohemian Region
- České Budějovice
- Charles Bridge
- Clearance of Josefov
- Holešovice
- Josefov
- Letná Plain
- National Theatre (Prague)
- Prague City Hall
- South Bohemian Region
- Stromovka
- Týn nad Vltavou
- Vyšehrad