Wendlinger Laundry Memorial

Wendlinger Laundry Memorial is a small, easy-to-miss historical marker tucked inside the Nostitz Garden on Prague's Kampa island, just steps from Maltese Square in Malá Strana. Shaped like a bar of soap and carved with the inscription "Prádlo 1659" — Czech for "laundry 1659" — it sits in one of the most photographed corners of the city yet remains largely unknown even to Praguers.

Why was there a laundry here at all?

The site has been tied to water for centuries. Kampa is wrapped by the Čertovka, an artificial channel that has powered watermills serving Malá Strana since the Middle Ages. One of those mills belonged to a miller named Pavel Zlomek, and for a time it was known simply as Zlomek's mill. Ownership later passed to the Rožmberk family, who converted the old mill into a summer residence. The next owner, Baron Wendlinger, had a laundry built on the site — most likely serving the palaces and townhouses scattered across Malá Strana.

How did the Nostic family change things?

The property eventually came under the Nostic family, who moved the laundry operation into the building and expanded it considerably. In 1782, Count Nostic carried out a major upgrade: the works were fitted with ten copper kettles and one iron kettle, alongside 43 washing troughs. A separate room was set aside for ironing, holding ten presses. For 18th-century Prague, this was a substantial operation, underscoring how much laundry the households of the Malá Strana nobility generated.

What does the memorial actually look like?

The marker itself takes the form of a soap bar or cube, which is why it's sometimes referred to simply as the "soap monument." The carved date of 1659 raises questions among local historians, since soap of that era was rarely cast into such a smooth, rounded shape. That mismatch suggests the object was likely made well after the date it bears — possibly as a playful or artistic nod to the site's laundry history rather than a genuine 17th-century relic. The exact circumstances of its creation are undocumented, which only adds to the mystery.

Where exactly is it located?

The memorial stands inside the Nostitz Garden, a small, enclosed park adjoining the Nostitz Palace; garden and palace together are protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. The garden borders Maltese Square directly, just a short walk from Kampa and Charles Bridge, making it an easy stop while exploring Malá Strana.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an entrance fee? No. The Nostitz Garden is open to the public, and the memorial sits in a freely accessible part of it.

Why is the memorial shaped like soap? It references the laundry that operated on this spot from Baron Wendlinger's time onward, though the exact age and origin of the object itself are not firmly established.

What originally stood here? A watermill owned by miller Pavel Zlomek, powered by the Čertovka channel, before it was converted first into a residence and later into a laundry.

Who expanded the laundry into a larger operation? Count Nostic, who in 1782 equipped it with copper and iron kettles plus dozens of washing troughs.

How do you get to the Nostitz Garden? The easiest route is on foot from Maltese Square or from Kampa, just a few minutes from Charles Bridge.