If it were not for the longest river in the Czech Republic, its largest city would not exist. Or certainly not as we know it today. Prague owes its location and form to the Vltava and its banks, which are the true cradle of the city and, to this day, help shape our ideas about the direction in which the development of the capital should be headed. At the same time, Prague has often turned its back on its river, showed little respect for its nature and neglected the opportunities it offers. Today, however, the Vltava is returning to the centre of attention for urban planning and politics, as well as private investment. The exhibition at the Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning responded to this renewed interest of the city in “its” river. It presented the current trends in the spatial development of the riverscape with examples of twenty-five specific projects that were to be implemented on the Vltava or in its immediate surroundings. The range of projects was broad, starting with large public projects such as the periurban park at the confluence of the Vltava and Berounka, the first of its kind in the Czech Republic, the Rohan Park, which should combine recreational use with natural flood protection, or the comprehensive transformation of the Troja basin. Smaller-scale projects were also presented, ranging from bed modifications in some of the Vltava’s tributaries—the Rokytka, Botič and Motolský potok, to infrastructure such as the new bridge, Dvorecký most, and the cable car in Podbaba, to important public buildings on the river bank such as the Vltava Philharmonic Hall.

Visitors to CAMP could take a walk along both banks of the Vltava from Zbraslav to Podbaba thanks to a 1:1,000 scale model of the river, which winded its way through the entire exhibition hall. Its floor could, under the rays of UV light, turn into a giant map of Prague’s water system before the eyes of an attentive visitor. In an accompanying projection, visitors could learn the details and context of the upcoming projects. The wide-angle projection invited them to travel into the past of Prague and the Vltava River with the help of historical engravings, maps, photographs and archive footage. The “analogue” part of the exhibition then summarized basic information and “Vltava highlights”, which we may walk past every day without even being aware. For example, do you know where in Prague the river is the deepest? And can you name all of Prague’s bridges off the top of your head?

The information contained in the exhibition was largely drawn from documents prepared by the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, particularly the new concept for Prague’s riverbanks (Koncepce pražských břehů).