Olšany cemeteries

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Entrance gate
Friedhofsweg in winter

The Olšany cemeteries ( Olšanské hřbitovy ; in German mostly in the singular Wolschaner Friedhof ) in the Olšany ( Wolschan ) area of ​​the Prague district of Žižkov are a communal necropolis consisting of twelve individual cemeteries and the largest burial place in the Czech capital .

history

The first cemetery in Olšany at the gates of the city of Prague was first laid out in 1679/1680 in order to be able to bury the city's plague dead quickly. The church dedicated to the plague saint Rochus (until 1842 Chapel of St. Rochus) at today's cemetery I commemorates this burial site .

When emperor Joseph II banned burials in the city center in Prague, burials in Olšany became the norm for residents of Prague's old and new towns from the end of the 18th century, which meant that the area had to be expanded several times. The bilingualism that dominated Prague until 1945 is reflected in the cemeteries in Olšany: German-speaking, Czech-speaking and German-Czech-speaking graves and tombs can be found next to each other.

At the end of the 19th century, the cemetery in Olšany was expanded by the city administration into a municipal necropolis for Prague, which was designed for two million burials. B. also contains sections for Orthodox and Islamic believers. As part of the expansion into the largest burial site in Prague, a number of chapels and places of worship for certain religious communities were built. Fatalities from the First and Second World Wars from various countries are buried in a number of military cemeteries. The Olšany necropolis is also the site of a crematorium .

Immediately next to the main cemetery, the Jewish community purchased a piece of land and built the New Jewish Cemetery there in 1890 . a. Franz Kafka is buried. The Vinohrady cemetery , where Presidents Hácha and Havel are buried, and where the Strašnice crematorium is located, is only around 500 meters away from the cemeteries in Olšany .

Buried personalities

Grave of Jan Palach (1948–1969)
Common grave of communist politicians, including Klement Gottwald

Well-known personalities buried in the Olšany cemetery include:

Views (selection)

building

  • Rochus Church

  • Orthodox Church

  • crematorium

  • Monument to Jan Šverma

Departments

  • Graves in cemetery I.

  • Graves in the cemetery II

  • Graves in the cemetery IX

  • British war cemetery

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Památky. Olšanské hřbitovy , detailed description of Pražská informační služba (Prague City Information Service), online (archived) at: pis.cz / ...
  2. ↑ Krása a sláva Olšanských hřbitovů , description of the Praha.eu portal, online at: praha.eu / ...
  3. ^ The New Jewish Cemetery at Olšany

Web links

Commons : Olšany cemeteries  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 50.3 "  N , 14 ° 28 ′ 0.8"  E