The Letna Carousel, operated by the National Technical Museum in Prague, is the oldest operating carousel in Europe. The carousel opened in 1894 and stayed in operation until 2004. The carousel was closed for almost two decades while saving around $290,000 for renovations. The Nation Technical Museum hoped to reopen the carousel in 2008 in time for the museum’s centenary but was pushed back until 2022 after restoring all the horses and the pavilion. The horses are made with horse skin, making them look uncannily realistic. The horses used to be filled with straw. Now, the horses have an iron frame and wooden heads and legs. During the restoration, newspapers from the 1930s and 1920s along with coins from the Austro-Hungarian empire, were found inside the horses. Four original saddles remain from when the carousel opened its doors more than a century ago.

The carousel is open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, May through September. The cost to ride is 120 CKZ or $5 in U.S. money. The carousel is housed in a wooden pavilion that has been there since it was open. Music is played in the background that is supposed to sound like an orchestra or band operated by coins. The carousel was pushed by a person under the floor but switched to an electric motor in the 1930s. The multiple sizes of the horses suggest that not only kids rode the carousel. In the present day, kids and adults enjoy riding the carousel. Radio Prague spoke with a long-term resident while they were in Letna and asked her about her memories of the carousel. She said that as a kid, she would sit on the horse while pushing the carousel around with one foot. When she became an adult, she took her kids to the carousel and eventually her grandkids.

Wooden Pavilion that holds the Letna Carousel

Sources:

Horáková, Pavla. “Repair Work Continues on Europe’s Oldest Merry-Go-Round.” Radio Prague International, 7 Apr. 2021, english.radio.cz/repair-work-continues-europes-oldest-merry-go-round-8624933.

Hummingbird Stories. “More than a Century-Old Carousel with Horses on Letná.” Our Beautiful Prague, 29 Apr. 2024, www.ourbeautifulprague.com/more-than-a-century-old-carousel-with-horses-on-letna/.

Johnston, Rosie. “Money Makes the Merry-Go-Round: The Fight to Save the Letna Carousel.” Radio Prague International, 8 Apr. 2021, english.radio.cz/money-makes-merry-go-round-fight-save-letna-carousel-8097815.

“The Letná Carousel.” National Technical Museum, www.muzeum-chomutov.cz/en/for-visitors/opening-hours/the-letna-carousel. Accessed 27 Aug. 2024.

McEnchroe, Thomas. “Prague’s Historic Letná Carousel Set to Be Restored and Reopened by Spring 2022.” Radio Prague International, 16 July 2021, english.radio.cz/pragues-historic-letna-carousel-set-be-restored-and-reopened-spring-2022-8723232.

“Merry-Go-Round Brings Joy to Praguers for over 130 Years.” Radio Prague International, 14 July 2024, english.radio.cz/merry-go-round-brings-joy-praguers-over-130-years-8822494.

“Orchestrion.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Apr. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrion.

Written by: Mikayla Faires