Park Jezerka

Park Jezerka sits in Prague's Nusle district (Prague 4), tucked into a small valley bordered by Jaurisova, Družstevní ochoz, and Na Jezerce streets. It's a modest neighborhood park, not a grand tourist attraction, but its layered history makes it worth a stop for anyone exploring beyond the city center.

Where is the park and what does it look like today?

Jezerka makes use of the natural shape of the valley where an old farmstead once stood. The park itself was gradually built after 1946, with construction work starting in earnest in 1949 — by which point the surrounding apartment blocks had already been inhabited since the 1930s. At the heart of the park stands Divadlo Na Jezerce, a theatre that gives the place a cultural pulse beyond simple green space.

Where does the name Jezerka come from?

Despite the name, there's no large lake here. It traces back to older names for the garden attached to a farmstead called Šustrovka — variously recorded as Jezer, Obzer, Bezerka, or Obzerka before settling into Jezerka. Alongside its houses, farm buildings, and fields, the Šustrovka farmstead also had a vineyard. During the First Republic era, a popular garden restaurant with a dance hall operated on the site, and a fishpond next to it let hungry guests pick a fish to be cooked to order.

What's the story behind the spring and the old waterworks?

A spring known as Libušina lázeň still rises in the park and feeds a small pond. Historians believe this is the source point of a gravity-fed pipeline of hollowed pine trunks that, as early as the 12th century, supposedly carried water all the way to Vyšehrad — potentially one of the earliest known waterworks on the territory of present-day Prague. It's a striking bit of context for what now looks like a plain little pond.

What happened to the park under communism?

In the 1970s, the old farmstead was converted into a studio for Czechoslovak Television. The pond was filled in, a parking lot was built over part of the grounds, and a concrete balcony for musicians replaced the original baroque terrace. It took decades before the city began reversing some of these changes.

What can visitors do in the park now?

Families will find two playgrounds: one with climbing structures for children aged 2 to 12, and a separate traffic playground where kids practice cycling or scooting through mock road layouts and signs. In the upper part of the park stands a memorial to the fallen. A revitalization project is currently underway (though delayed past its planned start), aiming to restore the long-dried pond and its stream, fed by rainwater collected from the theatre's roof.

Frequently asked questions

Is there still a pond in Park Jezerka? The historic pond was filled in during the 1970s. A revitalization project is under way to restore it, with water eventually supplied by rainwater harvested from the theatre roof.

Is the park good for families with kids? Yes — there are two playgrounds, one with climbing equipment for ages 2–12 and another designed as a traffic playground for practicing cycling and road rules.

Why is it called Jezerka if there's no real lake? The name comes from older names for the garden that belonged to the Šustrovka farmstead (Jezer, Obzer, Bezerka, Obzerka), not from a large body of water — only a small spring-fed pond exists on site.

Is there anything besides greenery in the park? Yes, Divadlo Na Jezerce theatre operates in the middle of the park, and a memorial to the fallen stands in its upper section.