Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vyšehradský hřbitov (Vyšehrad Cemetery)
Daily: March, April & Oct 8am-6pm; May-Sept 8am-7pm; Nov-Feb 8am-5pm • Free •
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Vyšehrad
Oneofthefirstinitiativesofthenationalrevivalmovementwastoestablishthe
Vyšehradský
hřbitov
, which spreads out to the north and east of the church of sv Petr and Pavel. It's a
measure of the part that artists and intellectuals played in the foundation of the nation, and
the high regard in which they are still held, that the most prestigious graveyard in the city is
given over to them: no soldiers, no politicians, not even the Communists managed to muscle
their way in here (though there are a few merchants and bankers). Sheltered from the wind
by its high walls, lined on two sides by delicate arcades, it's a tiny cemetery (reflecting, as it
were, the size of the nation) filled with mostly well-kept graves, many of them designed by
the country's leading sculptors.
VYŠEHRAD CEMETERY AND THE VELVET REVOLUTION
The grave of the Romantic poet
Karel Hynek Mácha
in Vyšehrad Cemetery was the first
assemblypointforthedemonstrationonNovember17,1989,whichwasorganizedtocom-
memorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Nazi attack on Czech higher education institutions
and which triggered the
Velvet Revolution
.
Student protests against the German occupation had reached a peak on October 28, 1939,
when violent clashes resulted in the death of medical student Jan Opletal; his funeral, on
November11,wasaccompaniedbymoreviolentdisturbances.OnNovember17,theNazis
took the initiative, executing various student leaders, packing thousands off to the camps
and shutting down all Czech higher education institutes. Fifty years later, in 1989, the
cemetery was the gathering point for a 50,000-strong crowd, which attempted to march
from here to Wenceslas Square, an event that kicked off the Velvet Revolution.
