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Negrelli Viaduct

railway bridge in Prague

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ12040558
Source-derived summary

The Negrelli Viaduct (Czech: Negrelliho viadukt by Alois Negrelli, also known as the Karlín Viaduct,), Czech Republic, is a railway bridge over Štvanice Island that connects Masaryk Railway Station in central Prague with a railway station in Bubny. It is the historically first Prague railway bridge over the Vltava River and currently Prague's second oldest bridge over the river.

It is also the longest railway bridge and third longest bridge in the Czech Republic.

The viaduct was declared a Czech cultural monument in 1964.

History

Construction

The Karlín Viaduct was built as part of the Dresden branch of the Northern State Railways Olomouc-Prague-Dresden project, which was approved by the State Railways Directorate in 1842. The construction started in spring 1846, was completed in 1849 and the bridge was put into operation on June 1st, 1850. The construction costs amounted to one and a half million florins.

At that time the bridge had 87 stone arches, eight of which stood directly in the Vltava River. The railway line was double-tracked and in the second half of the 19th century a third blind shunting track was laid. The width of the bridge deck between the stone railings is 7.6 m.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Negrelli Viaduct” as railway bridge in Prague. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1964, 1842, 1846, 1849—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1850. The account is most persuasive where Negrelli, Viaduct and railway can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as railway bridge in Prague. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12040558. Authority coordinates are 50.096, 14.441. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 1842, 1846 and 1849.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Negrelli Viaduct”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Negrelli Viaduct primary sources, Negrelli Viaduct archive and Negrelli research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Negrelli Viaduct”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Negrelli Viaduct” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.