Vinohrady Cemetery ( cs, Vinohradský hřbitov) is a large cemetery in

Vinohrady Královské Vinohrady (in English literally "Royal Vineyards" german: Königliche Weinberge) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the muni ...

in Prague 10 which contains

Strašnice Crematorium Strašnice Crematorium (in cs, link=no, Krematorium Strašnice) is the largest crematory in Europe in terms of area. President Václav Havel was cremated here. The crematorium was involved in the disposal of those who had been executed by the ...

. It is the second largest cemetery in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and is registered in the state list of cultural monuments. The remains of two Czech presidents are in this cemetery.

History

The cemetery dates from 1885 although it was at first smaller than its current size of . Over time the land has been extended three times. It ranks second by number of persons buried there. In terms of area, Ďáblice Cemetery is the largest in Prague. In 1897 the municipal architect Antonín Turek designed the simple chapel here which is near the entrance. This chapel is dedicated to St. Wenceslas and should not be confused with the more modern St. Wenceslas Church in nearby Vršovice. In front of this chapel are the graves of those who were killed in the

Prague Uprising The Prague uprising ( cs, Pražské povstání) was a partially successful attempt by the Czech resistance movement to liberate the city of Prague from German occupation in May 1945, during the end of World War II. The preceding six years of o ...

of May 1945 as well as a memorial to the children killed during the German occupation of Prague during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

.Vinohrady Cemetery
Prague Welcome, retrieved 20 November 2013 The

opened in 1932.Post Bellum – František Suchý
retrieved 25 November 2013

Notable burials

upGrave of Václav Havel Notable burials here include the novelist

Jaroslav Foglar Jaroslav Foglar (6 July 1907 – 23 January 1999) was a Czechoslovak writer who wrote many novels about youths (partly also about Boy Scouts movement) and their adventures in nature and dark city streets. His signature series is '' Rychlé šípy' ...

, the composer Julius Fučík, the sculptor

Otto Gutfreund Otto Gutfreund (3 August 1889 – 2 June 1927) also written Oto Gutfreund, was a Czechoslovak sculptor. After studying art in Prague and Paris, he became known in the 1910s for his sculptures in a cubist style. After his service in the First World ...

, President

Emil Hácha Emil Dominik Josef Hácha (12 July 1872 – 27 June 1945) was a Czech lawyer, the president of Czechoslovakia from November 1938 to March 1939. In March 1939, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Hácha was the nominal president of the newly pro ...

, President Václav Havel's ashes, writers Jan Karafiát and

Egon Kisch Egon Erwin Kisch (29 April 1885 – 31 March 1948) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself ''Der Rasende Reporter'' (The Raging Reporter) for his countless travels to the far corners of the ...

, the singer Laďka Kozderková, the painter

Jakub Schikaneder Jakub (or Jakob) Schikaneder (February 27, 1855 in Prague – November 15, 1924 in Prague) was a painter from Bohemia. Biography Jakub (or Jakob) Schikaneder was born to a family of a German customs office clerk in Prague. The family's love of ...

, children's writer

Karel Václav Rais Karel Václav Rais (January 4, 1859 – July 8, 1926) was a Czech realist novelist, author of the so-called ''country prose'', numerous books for youth and children, and several poems. Biography Rais was born into the family of a simple farm ...

, and historian and writer

Zikmund Winter Zikmund Winter (27 December 1846 - 12 June 1912) was a Czech writer and historian. The author of many historical novels and essays, he maintained an interest in Bohemian life from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. He died in 1912 and he wa ...

.Vinohrady Cemeteries
MyCzechRepublic.com, retrieved 21 November 2013 Former President Emil Hácha's burial was performed here under heavy security on 1 July 1945 when the Minister of the Interior,

Václav Nosek Václav Nosek (26 September 1892 in Velká Dobrá – 22 July 1955 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak Communist politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 4 April 1945 to 14 September 1953. Despite the fact that Nosek never hid his Comm ...

, gave instructions that the grave was to remain unmarked. Nosek had arrested Hácha on 13 May 1945 because of his

collaboration with the Nazis In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals collaborationism, collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion." Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops, believing they ...

during the war. Hacha had become ill and died on 27 June at the prison hospital in Pankrác.Emil Hacha
hrad.cz, retrieved 20 November 2013 Hácha's grave was unmarked for many years but there is now a large but simple gravestone. Famous political dissident and the first president of the Czech Republic,

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

, had his ashes buried here in the family vault joining his parents. Havel's first wife Olga Havlová was buried here in 1996. Havel was cremated at Strasnice Crematorium in a family ceremony; his

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of ...

at the cemetery was attended by several heads of state and followed by three days of national mourning.Havel to be buried at Vinohrady cemetery
Radio Prague, 22 December 2011, retrieved 21 November 2013

Heritage

The cemetery and the crematorium are listed as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. As part of the

European Heritage Days European Heritage Days (EHD) is a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission involving all 50 signatory states of the European Cultural Convention under the motto, ''Europe: a common heritage''. The annual programme offers o ...

initiative this cemetery was opened to the public in September 2012.Praha 10 spouští QRpedii. Památky označkuje QR kódy
Lucas Vaclavik, September 2012, CNews.cz, retrieved 19 November 2013

References

External links

list of burials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinohrady cemetery 19th-century establishments in Bohemia 1885 establishments in Austria-Hungary Cemeteries in Prague Prague 10