Holešovice: the trade-fair palace and the creative grid
A functionalist giant full of modern art, a contemporary gallery in a factory, and the market halls between. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Vltavská
The metro C stop on the southern edge of *Holešovice*. Surface into the grid of warehouses and apartment blocks; the neighbourhood reveals itself street by street as you head north.

2. Veletržní palác
The vast 1928 functionalist trade-fair palace, now the National Gallery's modern and contemporary collection. Le Corbusier reportedly envied it. Go in for the atrium alone — it's the size of a hangar. The Mucha *Slav Epic* has shown here, though it travels.

3. The Holešovice grid cafés
The streets around the palace — *Veletržní*, *Dukelských hrdinů* — are where the neighbourhood's café life sits. Pick one with tables out and a flat white that took thought. A pause earns the rest of the walk.

4. DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
A former factory turned sharp-edged white gallery, with a wooden airship — the *Gulliver* — bolted to the roof. The shows are political and the bookshop is good even if you skip the galleries.

5. Holešovická tržnice
The old market halls — a 19th-century slaughterhouse complex now half food court, half studios and odd shops. Wander the *tržnice* (market hall) lanes; it's scruffy, half-finished, and more interesting for it.

6. Nádraží Holešovice
The metro C and mainline station at the top of the quarter. Metro home, or jump a train if you're heading out of the city.

Holešovice: the trade-fair palace and the creative grid