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Prague and The Bourne Identity

Bourne Identity Filming Locations in Prague


The first feature film of the original Jason Bourne trilogy was partly filmed in Prague in 2001 where you are led to believe you are in Zurich hence all the signage is in German. I’ve watched this film so many times and I knew most of the filming locations but it was only recently that I put my mind to finding the whereabouts of the scene when he escapes from the “US Embassy”. Now I know that location I thought I’d do a post about where to find the Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague for yourselves.


There’s a scene at a railway station as he arrives in “Zurich” which may or may not be Prague. There’s not enough detail for me to be sure. So for me the first of the Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague scene is where Matt Damon is standing in the middle of a snow covered road with a wall on his right. The wall borders the Old Jewish Cemetery and it’s the section next to the Museum of Decorative Arts.

jason bourne standing in a snow covered street
Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague – An early Prague scene – more than one “take” according to the footsteps in the snow
prague street called 17 Listopad with tram lines
The actual location is a street called “17. Listopad”

Then we cut to a park scene where Matt Damon is asleep on a bench and he is challenged by two policeman. Behind the policemen you can see a river and the National Theatre appears briefly on the far right. He beats them up, throws down his jacket and runs away. This Bourne Identity filming location was filmed in Kampa Park adjacent to the Kampa Modern Art Museum where it overlooks the river.


Now we switch to a scene where Matt Damon, now in his jumper, is looking across at the “bank”. This is filmed in part of a street called Politickych Veznu at the junction of Washingtonova. The Bourne Identity filming location for the “bank” is actually the government office for Trade and Industry (I also tell you what it was is WW2 on my World War Two Walking Tour). Anyway, as he walks away from the “bank” you see the State Opera building at the far end.

jason bourne exiting a zurich bank in the Bourne Identity
Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague – The Zurich Bank
the trade and industry building in prague used in the bourne identity as the zurich bank
In reality it’s the Trade and Industry Building with a strange history

On the corner of the same road but this time on it’s junction with Opletalova we see big signs for a pub called “die Zwei Hunde”. This actually is a pub on the corner but at the time of writing was called Ferdinanda.


Crossing the road but staying in Politickych Veznu at the end of the road is the tramline. This is the scene where Matt Damon walks across the tramlines in front of a blue tram. The tram is a regular T6-style tram which would normally be red but was coloured blue because that’s the Zurich tram colour.


Matt Damon continues walking into a street called Panska and he knows he has got the police after him. He sees the Stars and Stripes, gets out his US passport from the red bag and shows it to a guard before entering the “US Embassy”. The Bourne Identity filming location for the embassy entry scene is filmed at Panska 7 next to the Mucha Museum.

jason bourne enters the US embassy in the bourne identity
Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague – Entering the US Embassy
the view of the street from panska 7 in prague used as a filming location in prague
The view of the street from Panska 7 – The green building is the Art Nouveau Palace in Prague

I don’t know where they filmed the interior scenes but once he gets out of the emergency exit there’s a scene where the security opens the door and looks down and around. There’s literally 10 frames of film which show an ornate gateway, tram line and a large blue building opposite. It took a while to work out but eventually I got this Bourne Identity filming location down to the Hotel Carlo IV in Senovazne Namesti so if you are facing the hotel it’s the entry gate area on your left.

jason bourne escaping the US embassy in the bourne identity
Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague – Escaping the US Embassy
side view of the carlo iv hotel in prague used as a filming location in the bourne identity
Carlo IV Hotel – In the Bourne Identity film they create a false ledge where the stuntman drops down to the ground

Now we have the last Prague scene where he meets Marie Kreuz, takes ten thousand dollars from the red bag and gets the ride in the mini. For this we are back at Panska but not the “US Embassy”. Actually the Bourne Identity filming location “mini” scene is opposite in a street called “V Cipu” and the car is parked outside the rear of the Art Nouveau Hotel Palace.

the bourne identity scene where jason buys a lift from marie
Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague – Jason buys a lift in the mini
the rear of the art nouveau palace hotel used as a bourne identity filming location in prague
The location at the rear of the Art Nouveau Palace Hotel is only 50 metres away from the “Entry to the US Embassy” scene

Not Prague related but in the final scene of the film, Marie is in the cafe tending a plant. If you look carefully the plant is in the red bag from the “Zurich bank”. Nice touch.

So that’s it. This post was all about Bourne Identity filming locations in Prague. You might also be interested in Mission Impossible Filming Locations or where INXS Video Filming Locations are to be found. You can find these places or if you want to hire me to show you around then feel free to contact me or take a look at livingpraguetours.com for different tour content.


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