During the General Global Exhibition in 1981, which took place in Holešovice, the visitors could appreciate many exhibition buildings as well as a number of different exhibits. The fair pavilion of ‘Hanau’s Metal-works Company’ from Komárov was one of them. The company was at that time owned by Vilém Prince from Hanau, who employed over 700 workers in his company.
The fair pavilion designed by Otta Hieser was built by the workers of the metal-works. The works had been supervised by arch. František Červenka. The pavilion was constructed from cast iron, masonry and glass in the Dutch Baroque style. The elevated double-flight staircase was richly decorated with artistic banister iron-works. The attention of the visitors was also drawn to the decorative bow-window, magnificent balcony, windows with iron-worked bars and terrace banisters. The interior of the pavilion was no less artistically arranged. The centre of the interior featured a pyramid, with almost 6m of height, made of the cast-iron products, which were surrounding a wide decorative pillar in the middle. The central pillar is crowned by a cast-iron eagle. The visitors could have also seen the museum with the works of the company school apprentices, which was situated in the annex building of the pavilion.The main exhibit was however the pavilion construction itself.
The prince of Hanau donated the pavilion to the City of Prague before the Global General Exhibition ended. The construction was taken apart and then rebuilt on the new designated site at the edge of Letenské Sady (park of Letná) in December 1891. The pavilion was in the beginning used more as a shelter for the park visitors and only later became a restaurant.
The Hanau’s pavilion contributes to Prague’s panorama thanks to its location as well as its steeple.
