Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

The mining steam engine in the Mining Museum Mayrau near Kladno was manufactured by F. Ringhoffer's factory in Smíchov before 1905, when it was exhibited in Paris. Originally made for steam ship. Steam was driven by a steam pump in a water pit with a capacity of 6 cubic meters per minute, used only at an increased inflow of mine waters, to drive all steam machinery in the sorting plant, generators and workshop machines. The pump was noisy and its "barking" was reportedly heard all around Vinařice. The steam hall in Mayrau was in operation until 1946. Today, the machine in the museum is powered by an electric motor. The piston hydraulics are connected to a pipe on the outside wall of the building where I put the recorder. The breathing of the steel lungs of the machine is audible against the background of occasional gunfire from a nearby shooting range, the hum of an passing airplane and the spring singing of birds. The recording is from the expedition with Peter Cusack, Lloyd Dunn and Dagmar Šubrtová, who invited us here.