The Mlynský Náhon waterway near Gorkého Street in Košice. (source: Korzár/Jana Ogurčáková)
The wider Košice centre may soon change as the town hall wants a historic waterway to once again be part of it. The ambitious idea draws inspiration from the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, France, and canals in Utrecht, the Netherlands, reports Korzár.
Known as Mlynský Náhon, the waterway is the oldest engineering work in the eastern-Slovak city, created approximately in the 15th century. It was either an artificially created distributary of the Hornád River, or a modified meander of the river's distributary. The waterway was named after a watermill that used to stand on its bank. In 1968, part of the waterway was pumped out and changed into a four-lane road, now Štefánikova Street connecting the north and south of Košice, thus diverting water from the centre.
Štefánikova Street and the waterway in the past. (source: VKJB)
Mayor Jaroslav Polaček started working on the idea five years ago, building on the vision of his predecessor Rudolf Schuster, who even had plans for boating in the city park.
The current management will change the waterway from Anička Park to the Jumbo shopping centre, based on the 2020 landscape and urban planning competition winning design. There are also plans to take the waterway even further, all the way to the city park.
The winning design and how Gorkého Street may look like. (source: Tomáš Hanáček a kolektív)
Several studies, including landscape and territorial, have been prepared. Now, the city has obtained an approved building permit. The cost is estimated at €15 million. While last year the town hall said that it would finance the transformation from its own budget, now it is discussing external sources.
"We would like to apply for Eurofund resources to finance the revitalisation. However, there is currently no call announced that would allow it. We are waiting for this to happen," says the mayor.
The road near the Rokoko hotel should make way for a circular foot bridge above the waterway. (source: Tomáš Hanáček a kolektív)
