Herget Brickworks

The classically rebuilt 18th century building of the brickworks with a mansard roof forms the characteristic panorama of the Lesser Quarter.

At the mouth of the Devil's Channel into the Vltava River is a residential house called Na Kalvárii and the two-storey building of the former brickworks. It was built in 1780 – 1782 by František Baron Leonard Herget, a professor of mathematics, at the site of a former tannery.

František Herget soon sold the brickworks to entrepreneur Josef Zobel, whose daughter married Antonín Herget, thanks to which the brickworks was returned to the family. In the 19th century the brickworks and the neighbouring house were rebuilt in the classical style.

Later on the brickworks was used as a warehouse or garage for historic cars and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1995 it burned down after the decision was made to preserve it as a monument.

The simple longitudinal building with mansard roof and wooden tower is today characteristic of the panorama of the Lesser Quarter. The current owner of the building is the City of Prague 1, which oversaw the reconstruction of the premises, where today we find a complex of restaurants, the Franz Kafka Museum, and other exhibition spaces. In the courtyard there is a fountain with statues of urinating figures by David Černý.