The White Swan

Went out this morning to the Apetite Piknik at Karlínské náměstí. Way too many people for me so I didn't stay there long, but I did manage to find some broad beans at the farmers' market, so it wasn't a total bust. On the way home, I decided to do some urban hiking (the No 8 tram only has one car on weekends and it was packed), and took a photo of the famous White Swan building. It's not the best shot of this building - it's rather hard to find a good vantage point.

Bílá Labut’ (White Swan) is a piece of Prague history. It was one of the first department stores in the Czech Republic and was built in the late 1930s. The main 5-storey facade is a glass area of 30 x 18 metres and 180 sheets of opaque heat and sound insulating glass were used. When it was built it was the largest glass covered space in central Europe. There was an open competition for its design which was won by Josef Kittrich and Josef Hrubý, and the result is this building built in the functionalist style. Bílá Labut’ was the first building in Prague to have an escalator. A pneumatic pipe cash register connected all the sales departments with the central cash register. The store opened on the first day of the occupation of the republic – 19 March 1939.