History of the carousel

It is the oldest preserved carousel in Europe commissioned by Josef Nebesky more than one hundred years ago. The history of the carousel has been relatively well documented thanks to the fact that not only the original plan but also all the files of the city building office between the years 1892 and 1894 have been preserved. The carousel was first located in Royal Vinohrady not far from the today’s non-existing inn “Na Kravine“. Since the carousel was temporary and made of wood, building permission was not required. It is supposed that the carousel was built for the summer season of the year 1892, which is the year when the carousel came into existence.

Carpenter Matej

Josef Nebesky had the carousel built for the entertainment of both children and adults, which is deduced from the size of the horses. The person charged with the plan and the realization of the project was Matej Bilek, a master carpenter, who lived in Vinohrady 545. We know nothing about Matej Bilek but that he was a very skillful carpenter. What is interesting is Bilek’s original plan of the carousel from 1892. It contains a ground plan at the level of the turntable, cross section of the carousel, etc.

Moving to Letna

In 1894 Josef Nebesky had the carousel moved to Letna and placed it in one of the busiest places. On one side there was a communication thorougfare from the Old Town through Eliska Bridge (today‘s Stefanik Bridge) and water cableway (later replaced by a moving footpath) and on the other side, there was the first tram line built by Frantisek Krizik on the occasion of the Jubilee exhibition in 1891.

Horses driven by the pressure of a servant

The carousel still has the original wooden stand built on a regular dodecagon with a span of 12m and a pyramidal roof. The interior of the carousel is almost identical with the original one from 1892: there are 21 horses of different sizes and four cars on the turntable. Two cars are wooden, two metal and they correspond to the cars from 1930’s when they were probably added to the carousel. The turntable is driven by an electroengine which was first installed there as early as in the 1890’s. At the time, when the carousel was placed in Vinohrady, the turntable was driven by “the pressure of a circulating servant“ who kept going round and round under the floor and pushed the floor’s strut.

What is the truth about the horses?

A withhold fact is, that a herd of horses had to be pulled down for the construction of the carousel as the skin used to cover the horse figures was real horse skin. However, it was probably a profitable investment, otherwise the founder of the carousel surely wouldn’t have done it.