Old Town Weir

The oldest weir in Prague dating from the 13th century helped raise the level of the Vltava River, powering the watermills and feeding the Devil's Channel.

The Old Town Weir is the oldest in Prague. It was built in the 13th century in order to increase the level of the Vltava River, which was very shallow in these places. The weir also helped power a variety of watermills, for example Sova's Mills and the Old Town Mills, and also fed water to the Devil's Channel.

This is the only originally preserved wooden weir with a stone fill of the so-called Prague type. The weir has an inclined plan, measures 321 m, a water discharge and a gradient of 0.95 m. On the left bank it ends in the wall of the Smíchov locks and on the right bank it ends at Karlovy lázně (Charles Spa).

The Old Town Weir has been included since 1958 in the list of immovable cultural monuments.