Tagged: czech history

Petřínské sady: Statue of Karel Hynek Mácha

Petřínské sady: Statue of Karel Hynek Mácha

This full-height bronze of the illustrious poet Karel Hynek Mácha was begun in 1910 (the centenary of his birth) and placed on Petřin Hill, not far from the writer’s birthplace on Újezd street, two years...

Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Karlín

Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Karlín

In the year 863, the Orthodox missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius began translating the Bible into the language known as Old Church Slavonic, using a specially-formulated script from which was derived the later ‘Cyrillic’ alphabet....

Moskevská 967/34: Hussite Church, Vršovice

Moskevská 967/34: Hussite Church, Vršovice

Since the early 1920s, pressure had grown for a Hussite church in the neighbourhood of Vršovice. The plan was finally realized in 1930 by the architect Karel Truksa, and the church constructed within a year...

Mahlerovy sady 2699/1: Žižkov TV tower

Mahlerovy sady 2699/1: Žižkov TV tower

The first television signals in Prague were transmitted from Petřín Hill in 1953. By 1974, however, there was a clear need for a purpose-built high-power transmitter, and plans started to be drawn up for a...

Vítkov Memorial

Vítkov Memorial

Vítkov Hill, due east of Prague’s historic centre, has always been an important strategic site. It was here in 1420 that Jan Žižka, scourge of the Holy Roman Empire and zealous warrior of the Hussite...

Na Smetance 505/1

Na Smetance 505/1

This neo-renaissance secondary school in Prague 2 was constructed by Josef Franzl from a plan by the great Prague architect Antonin Turek, who was also responsible for the beautiful Vinohrady water tower and numerous other...

Archivní 2257/4: National Archive

Archivní 2257/4: National Archive

The new National Archive was constructed between 1994 and 1997 to a plan by the architect Iva Knappová. The bold decoration of its ceramic surface lends a certain fluidity to the building’s otherwise forbidding exterior:...

Výstaviště Exhibition Grounds

Výstaviště Exhibition Grounds

In 1791 a vast outdoor exhibition took place in Prague to mark the coronation (as King of Bohemia) of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The celebrations included the first performance of Mozart’s penultimate opera,...

Vrchlického sady: President Woodrow Wilson

Vrchlického sady: President Woodrow Wilson

The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 saw the emergence of a number of independent European nation-states, of which Czechoslovakia was one. Instrumental in the creation of the new republic was the then president...

Heroldovy sady 411/3

Heroldovy sady 411/3

The first village schoolmaster in Vršovice was appointed in the 17th century, and we know that in 1797 Matouš Holub was running a small school from his family cottage near the Botič stream. But the...