Finding Beauty Under Foot in Prague and Beyond

Rambousek, with help from a growing legion of fans, has spent over a decade photographing manhole covers, which he considers unrecognized works of art, at home and abroad.

His page features decorative covers from Sarajevo to Japan. But it all started twenty years ago in České Budějovice, Rambousek told the publication.

“When I first noticed the hatch on the square in České Budějovice I remember how surprised I was. Until then, I had not seen an adorned cover in Bohemia. While decorated hatches at that time appeared in a number of cities, I just did not know about it yet.”

In terms of what pops out at him on his walks throughout Prague, the Czech Republic, and beyond in search of decorated manhole covers, Rambousek says:

“I am most interested in artistic pieces that have some relationship to the site. It’s gratifying when the city decided to invest and prepare the covers with its own design, or with the municipal emblem.”

Indeed many of the covers that Rambousek snaps qualify as artistic, scenes of gilded castles or geometric prints embedded into the surrounding cobblestones.

Others, like a user-submitted manhole cover in Kladno bearing the communist insignia, reflect the country’s at times turbulent historical legacy.

Ramoubsek also organizes regular rambles throughout Prague, giving groups of fellow enthusiasts the chance to meet up with cameras and a desire to uncover underfoot treasure. The most recent one was held this past spring.