Excalibur Army, formerly a Soviet Military Depot located in Prelouc, Czech Republic

This project I am doing has switched gears from what I had originally had planned to what I realized once I came to the Czech Republic. Upon getting here and learning more about the subject that i am studying I realized that study a series of generally the same type of military development was rather pointless. There are, well there were, much bigger things at play here than this that in my nativity, had missed. 

During their occupation of The Czech Republic and the rest of Eastern and Central Europe, the Soviets did not just use these countries as base-points to continue progress. When they occupied an area, they completely transposed cultures and societies. While that subject is too vast and too far from what expertise I do have, it is something I have to keep in mind from here on out. 

As far the infrastructure of the military occupation that the Soviets led, the bases of original interested to me will not suffice. Instead i am now trying to look at the larger system of what the Soviets had once constructed. A system that was not built with temporariness in mind but rather in the vein of world conquest. 

One part of the system I am mentioning is the fast and efficient transportation through these occupied lands and during the time, the mode of transport that fit the bill was via railway. What you can find now are depots, located adjacently to towns, that previously stored vehicles, armaments, ammunition and supplies that could be readily moved anywhere along the rails.

In 1995 the depot was bought by a company called Excalibur Army where it was turned into their manufacturing and distributing headquarters. EA makes an array of military equipment such as clothing, medical supplies and even vehicles. More recently they have also started started doing repairs and maintenance on vehicles still in use by the military. There is also an area called Tank Power, which is owned by Excalibur Army, where they offer a variety of outdoor activities such as an obstacle course, shooting range and swimming. They also have a cleared out patch of land where they give rides in old decommissioned tanks that were left at the depot when the Soviet Union collapsed.

An old set of rails running into the development

Údolí Kunratického potoka

Údolí Kunratického potoka translates to Valley Brook in English and is a very large park in Prague 11, South of the center of the city. Its about a 30 minute trip from my apartment to get here via metro. I came here on a warm day in mid September and was very surprised by what it was. I had assumed that it was a very large but normal park that you find throughout Prague but instead it resembles that of a State Park in New York. Valley Brook is a vast forested area with a system of broad trails running though it. While i was there i saw many people there running, cycling, taking it the fresh air and of course, mushroom hunting. I was astonished by the amount of fungi there was growing on the floor of the forest and trees, long since fallen. I seemed as though you couldn't take a step without crushing a mushroom.

I am not too versed in classification of mushrooms but I took many photos of ones that I saw.

SAPA Vietnamese Market

While there is so much of this city that I have yet to see, I believe that the Vietnamese Market is thus far my favorite place.

While I was still at home I spent a lot of time researching things to see in the Czech Republic that weren't pertaining to my study. Seeing as how I was going to be here for three months I felt like I should find as many things of interest to check out while in country. I came across an article published by Vice Magazine about a Vietnamese Market located in the city and it posed to be a place of just the right amount of grittiness to peak my interest. Upon the first time going there it turned out to be exactly that. 

Located on the outskirts of the city, the market sits on roughly 55 acres of land in a industrial/residential area between Prague 11 and Prague 12. The market is essentially composed of vast warehouses full of vendors selling a shotty version of almost anything you could possibly need. At the walls lining the market you'll find a series of grocery stores offering strange produce, meat sitting out in the open air and live animals from carp to rabbits (presumably for eating.), stores offering services such as cellphone plans, western unions and travel agencies and some very delicious, traditional Vietnamese restaurants. In fact I believe that Anthony Bourdain came to this market to eat on an episode of No Reservations.

This market is apparently the largest distributor for all of the smaller SAPA markets like it in this region of Europe. Upfront, things at the market may seem some what shady, with signs prohibiting the use of cameras, most the employees gambling during their downtime and a lingering smell that is unrecognizable. All of that, in my mind, only makes this place more intriguing and most certainly a diverse aspect of Prague.

A sculpture of a serene mountain, complete with pagodas, lions, monks and apparently constructed out of snot.

I couldn't read the sign on this rabbits cage but I will trust my assumptions.

A pool that a week before was so full of carp you could not see the bottom.

My roommates behind some manikins.

An unsuccessful attempt to sneak a shot of these men gambling on a card game.

Central Group of Forces Headquarters. Milovice, CZ

The inevitability of war, in-turn means the inevitability of infrastructure to support such conflicts.

I am in The Czech Republic to study the repurposability of now abandoned military and war-time infrastructure. The reason i chose this location specifically was because of both the heavy Nazi and Soviet occupation that took place in the 20th century. Due to the fact that both the Nazis and the Soviets control was mainly in Europe, the centrality of the Czech Republic mean that the remnants of the two occupations lie abundantly on the Czech landscape. In fact during the control of the Soviet Union, the Central Group of Forces (CGF), which was the prominent military force located in central Europe, with 4 of the 5 main divisions existing in the Czech Republic. The head quarters of the CGF being outside of Milovice, a small town located about 30 miles East of Prague. 

During the Cold War this based housed two very large divisions, The first being the 15th Guards Tank Division and the second being the 131st Mixed Aviation Division. That being said, this base is incredibly vast being around 1600 acres containing around 15 large house blocks, 44 aircraft bunkers, a mixed variety of other buildings and a 1.5 mile long runway that is wide enough for jets to take off in formation.

This was my first visit to this site where I was able to photographically document a lot of what is still left there along with being able to get a sense for the spatial qualities of the place. While I was there I discovered that there are currently parts of the base that are being used. On the north side where the majority of the houseing blocks are located, there are 4 blocks that are being used as apartments. Im not sure when they were first renovated or even if they have been in use since the closing of the base. Another thing that exists on the site is a company that uses a couple of the old buildings, though I am not sure exactly what they do. The last formal use of the site is that of a few private aviation groups that use the runway to fly a number of ultralight aircraft that they house in a few of the bunkers remaining on the site.

The surreal feeling that I got from being at this site was overwhelming. Being interested in military actions and abandoned places since I was young, I was always intrigued by areas like this and was fond of exploring them. Seeing a site such as this though, that served the same purpose as ones in the United States but being controlled by Russia, a world power on the opposite side of the spectrum was nothing less than incredible.

two of the 44 bunkers located on site. While some are used for the aviation groups, most have been used as party spots for local kids, riddled with beer bottles and Graffiti. The rest have been left pretty much untouched and some were closed up, apparently being used as storage but i was unable to tell exactly.

The runway on the site. Spanning 1.5 miles in length and just over 520 feet in width.

Another bunker with the doors left open.

The are the posts that were used to fence in the site, they are around 7 feet tall, spaced 10 feet apart. they held a series of barbed wire strands, however this one has had it pulled out.

A winch that was used for closing the last few feet of this bunkers door. This is the only one that I saw on the sight so I am not sure if it was something original to the site or if it has been brought here after the closing of the base.

I am unsure of what this was but it appears to have been a very well fortified tunnel system. I may have been one of the original entrances to the base. Besides the two tunnels there is only a small room located inside that door way.

A close up of the tunnel entrance. The origin of the holes around the top are very curious.

The control tower located to the north of the runway, emptied of all the consoles and controls.

One of three styles of housing blocks on the base. There were only a few of these and they were located very close to the runway.

To the right is the main style of housing and the style in which the current apartment buildings were created from. In the middle is a tower, two of them are on the site and I am unsure of their original use.

Interior of a building which purpose is unclear.

An old garage/

Interesting artwork on the side of one of the housing blocks.

I feel as though the graffiti was placed next to this hole for a reason. This led to the basement of the building, which is how I entered the building.

A view of the basement.