It is not easy to imagine that river Vltava used to have its natural bank there in the past. Big changes occurred not only after construction of the embankment and the bridge, but also due to build-up of the local buildings and a road network. The biggest action was brought by construction of a large neo-classicist ministerial building no. 1039 from the years 1925-1932, based on design by arch. Josef Fanta. The five-wing building surrounding two closed yards replaced five Old-Prague houses, which had unfortunately stood in a sanitary zone in the northern line of Řásnovka Street. The present Bridge of Štefánik is the third bridge in this site. During 1865-1868 a chain bridge was constructed there. It was demolished in 1947 and a temporary wooden bridge was placed there. Then in the years 1949-1951 the present bridge was built there. When looking in the north you would be surely gripped by a mighty green mass of Letná Orchards, which have been a popular place for short-term relax of the citizens. In the axis of the Revoluční Avenue and the Bridge of Štefánik there is the Letná road tunnel. It links the embankment road and the Letná Square. Its length is 423,33 m and width is 10,30 m; from that the road is 9 m. Height in the vault end is 6,50 m, height difference between both portals is 33 m. The tunnel axis is broken twice; the two reverse curves have diameters of 100 and 168,76 m. It was constructed in the years 1950-1953 and pedestrians must not enter it. You may also see the former popular restaurant Praha Expo 58, a building of glass and metal, which was represented successfully by the former Czechoslovakia in the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958. After end of the exhibition it was placed in the Letná Orchards. At the end of 1990 activities of the restaurant were stopped and the building decayed until it was nearly a ruin. Reconstruction underwent during 2000-2001 and nowadays the building is mainly used for representing and administration.
