The Swimming School on the Vltava

In 1912, when Kafka wrote The Judgement, he was living in his family's apartment at the far north end of Pariska ulice (Paris Street). This apartment was in one of the many new and modern buildings being built in this area. From it, Kafka could look north across the Vltava and not only see the newly built Cechuv most (Czech Bridge), but also the Public Swimming School, the building of which still remains and can be seen here.

Kafka not only regularly went swimming at the school, but also moored his own Soulsoaker, a small rowboat, there. He used the boat often, and Max Brod wrote favorably of Kafka's skill, and dedication, when piloting the boat.

The apartment building was destroyed in the [1945 Prague uprising against the Nazis]. It was eventually replaced by the Hotel Intercontinental, which Michal Ajvaz, a Czech writer not completely disimilar to Kafka in style, used in the title of his first novel, Vražda v hotelu Intercontinental (Murder in the Hotel Intercontinental), written in 1989.