Ladronka is a

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

() situated in a park in

Břevnov Břevnov () is a cadastral district in the west of Prague, located in Prague 6. The district is home to the Břevnov Monastery (Czech: ''Břevnovský klášter''). On the territory of Břevnov stems Brusnice brook. Břevnov was first mentioned in ...

Prague 6 Prague 6, officially known as the Municipal District of Prague 6 (''Městská část Praha 6''), is the largest Districts of Prague, district in Prague. Located in the northwest, it covers 41.54 km2 and had a population of 100,600 as of 31 D ...

, in the Czech Republic. Built by Charles IV in 1340, it was bought by an Italian count, then owned by the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

before being broken into flats during the communist period. It was then

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

in 1993, becoming an internationally famous

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

self-managed social centre A self-managed social center, also known as an autonomous social center, is a self-organized community center in which Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venue ...

. The squatters organised gigs, exhibitions, readings and theatre, before being evicted in 2000 following the

anti-globalization protests in Prague Anti-capitalist Protests in Prague took place during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank summit on September 27, 2000, in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. This protest followed similar protests in 1999 Seattle WTO protests ...

. After several years of renovation, Ladronka was re-opened as an

activity centre Activity centre is a term used in urban planning and design for a mixed-use urban area where there is a concentration of commercial and other land uses. For example, the central business districts of cities (CBD) are also known as “Central Activ ...

in 2005, serving the surrounding park.

History

Ladronka is located at Tomanova 1028/1 in the

district of

. It was built as a

() in 1340 by Charles IV, who later became

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

. It was a

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

and stopping point on the road to

Karlštejn Karlštejn Castle (; ) is a castle in the Czech Republic. It is a large Gothic architecture, Gothic castle founded in 1348 by King Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV. The castle served as a place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia as ...

castle. An Italian nobleman, Count Filip Ferdinand de la Crone (or Lacrone), bought the farm in 1688 and it came to be known as Ladronka, deriving from a Czech mispronunciation of his name as "Ladron". Ladronka was subsequently owned by the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

religious order the

until World War II. Afterwards it was used as a warehouse and then divided into flats under

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. Following the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

in 1989, it stood derelict and was

Self-managed social centre

Ladronka was occupied by

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

in 1993 and became a

. Among the people living there was rapper . The

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

organised events such as gigs, exhibitions, readings and theatre, also publishing the magazine ''Autonomie''. The squat was raided by police in February 1994 and the squatters mustered support with demonstrations and petitions. A year later in January 1995, police conducted a second raid in which they searched the entire building and arrested eight squatters. The squatters were not evicted but there were plans to turn the building into a hotel, so the squatters gathered support again. At a public meeting, local people voiced their opposition to the development plans. An eviction date had been set and on the day the squatters symbolically handed over a paper model of the building to the municipality and continued the occupation. The social centre became internationally famous as a hub for counter-cultural activities and anarchist organisation. The squatters formed the Ladronka Foundation and successfully negotiated with the city of Prague to legalise the occupation. Hundreds of people attended concerts and events at Ladronka. By the late 1990s, the focus of the centre was shifting from politics to cultural activities, as part of a general downturn in anarchist activity in the Czech Republic. By this time, the city had signed a contract with the Santé group, which planned to develop Ladronka into a luxury medical centre. The social centre was evicted on 9 November 2000 by private security and police as part of a

moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral e ...

following the

. The eviction was not mandated by any judicial decision. Social centre projects which followed in the tradition of Ladronka have included Squat Milada and Klinika.

Activity centre

After the squatters were evicted, Ladronka was used as a training facility for police dog handlers. Reconstruction plans were delayed by various factors such as the floods across Europe in 2002 and the discovery of archaeological remains on the site. Since the park surrounding the building, now known as Ladronka Park, was used for recreation, a plan was devised to use the Ladronka homestead as an

. At a cost of 80 million

CZK The koruna, or crown (currency sign, sign: Kč; ISO 4217, code: CZK, ), has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to Czech Repub ...

, financed by

and the city of Prague, Ladronka was renovated. It now houses facilities for cycling,

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

and other sports, including equipment hire, as well as a restaurant. Later,

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

and football courts were added. The activity centre was opened in September 2005, marking the 85th anniversary of Prague 6. The following year, the centre was voted . Between 2009 and 2010, the facilities of the park were expanded to include a 4.2 kilometre skating course.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Squatting in the Czech Republic 1340 in Europe 2005 establishments in the Czech Republic 2000 disestablishments in the Czech Republic Evicted squats Anarchism in the Czech Republic Buildings and structures in Prague 1993 establishments in the Czech Republic Infoshops 21st-century architecture in the Czech Republic 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic