Vysočany (German: Wissotschan) is a part of
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
in the
Prague 9 administrative district (partly in
Prague 3
Prague 3 (formally the ''Prague 3 Municipal District'', ), is a second-tier municipality in Prague. It is geographically identical to the national administrative district (''správní obvod'') and city administrative district (''městský obvod' ...
),
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
. It lays in the eastern part of Prague around the valley with
Rokytka river.History
*The first recorded information about Vysočany is from 1115 when the duke Vladislav I. gave Vysočany vineyards to Kladruby monastery.
*In 1896 -
Emil Kolben - important Czech engineer and entrepreneur (former employee and friend of
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
) founded its factory which later became the famous
ČKD. This strongly influenced Vysočany as a heavily industrial district of Prague.
*In the year 1902 - the emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...
awarded Vysočany with the title of city and the right to use its coat of arms.
*1911 - Vysočany Town Hall was built
*In 1922 - Vysočany became part of Prague.
*In 1939 - after the
Nazi invasion of Prague. The majority of industrial production had to be refocused on military production to support Nazi-Germany war
*In 1942 - several families from Vysočany were involved in the
Operation Anthropoid
Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of the Holocaust, was assassinated during the Second World War in a coordin ...
(assassination of Reinhard Heydrich)
*In 1945 - during the end of World War II the district was heavily damaged during the
Bombing of Prague. The targets were factories which were forced to produce military material.
*In 1968 - after the invasion of Russian armies - there was a special convention of the Czechoslovak Communist Party held in Vysočany which strongly condemned the invasion of the Soviet armies.
*Since 1990s - the new era after
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 ...
saw Vysočany transforming from heavily industrial district to new modern residential part of Prague. Big part of construction is focused on the "brown-fields" after former factories.
Infrastructure
*Vysočany has
2 metro stations on the line B: Vysočanská and Kolbenova.
*2 train stations (
Praha-Vysočany and
Praha-Libeň).
*The oldest airport in Prague
Kbely lies partly in Vysočany.
Demographics
Interesting facts
*The tallest residential building in the Czech Republic
Rezidence Eliška is in Vysočany.
*Vineyard Máchalka is the only one left in the almost 1000-year history of vine production in Vysočany. It was renewed in 1998.
*Part of the Pragovka factory was rebuilt to an artist/community center
*The largest
flea market
A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously owned (secondhand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' ...
in Prague is in Vysočany district in the U Elektry street.
*
O2 Arena (Prague)
O2 Arena (stylised as O2 arena) is a multi-purpose arena, in Prague, Czech Republic.
It is home to HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga and is the third-largest ice hockey arena in Europe. It has hosted important sport events such as three ...
with the shopping mall Galerie Harfa and Harfa Business District is generally considered as Vysočany although officially lies in Libeň district.
References
External links
-- Official site of the Prague 9
{{Authority control
Districts of Prague
Cadastral territories in Prague