Great Strahov Stadium

THINGS TO DO, PRAGUE Updated : Oct 24, 2016, 05.29 PM IST

Dake Kang

A history and math student at the University of Chicago, Dake has been roaming the world since he was born, moving with his family from the United States to Korea and China as a child and most recently popping up in Oman, the Czech Republic, and India. With an insatiable curiosity about everything and anything - coupled with an unrelenting restlessness - he"s found himself in some pretty unusual situations, from being struck by lighting to interviewing North Koreans to befriending Burmese soldiers on overnight trains. Catch up on his latest journalistic explorations at dakekang.com.

Great Strahov Stadium is rarely mentioned in any tourist map or guidebook but it is by far one of the most impressive sights in all of Prague. Located just 25 minutes away from the famous Strahov Monastery, it was first built as a central staging ground for gymnastics, and was greatly expanded under communism in 1948 and 1975 into the biggest stadium in the world, with capacity for 250,000 spectators.

The field inside is 63500 sq m, large enough to hold an administrative building, a parking lot, and no less than 8 football pitches. After the fall of communism, the Great Strahov Stadium was abandoned though some soccer teams use the pitches for practice. The stands are decrepit and overgrown with weeds, the massive concrete walls are covered in graffiti, and on most given days the stadium is empty. If you and your other half lean more on the adventurous side, there’s no better place to go. Clamber up and down the crumbling stands, or spend an hour circumnavigating the entire complex, and marvel at the vastness of it all. And don’t worry about trespassing―the main entrance on the east side is open to the public, allowing you to stroll in without any problems at all.
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