Petrin Hill

The hill got its name from the Petrin Lookout Tower, built as a mini-version of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is a steel-framework tower 63.5 m tall, built in 1891. Originally it was used as a transmission tower. Today the tower is a major tourist attraction.

Also on the hill is the Štefánik's Observatory, which is an astronomical observatory founded 1928 and named after Slovak astronomer Milan Štefánik. Nowadays the observatory specializes above all in popularization of astronomy, and related natural sciences. The main telescopes of the observatory are a double refractor by Zeiss in the main dome and a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope installed in the western dome in 1976. The eastern dome of the observatory is only being used for scientific observations and since 1999 equipped with a 40 cm mirror telescope by Meade.

Also on the Petřín Hill is a hall with reflecting mirrors; thus you may observe yourself from many angles at the same time.

Access to Petřín hill may be by using the Petřín funicular.