- Address: Vinohradská 1835/153, 130 00 Praha 3, Česko
- Phone: +420 267 310 652
- Website: www.hrbitovy.cz
- E-mail: office@hrbitovy.cz
- Date of emergence: approximately XIV century.
- Area: more than 50 hectares
- Opening hours: from November to February from 8:00 to 17:00, in March, April and October from 8:00 to 18:00, from May to September - from 8:00 to 19:00
Olshanskoye cemetery is the most famous cemetery in Prague , and at the same time it is the largest. It occupies more than 50 hectares practically in the center of the Czech capital, and more people are buried there than in Prague (today the population of the capital is a little over 1.2 million people, and the cemetery houses more than 2 million graves). Well-known figures of culture , art, and politics are buried here. Today, the cemetery is one of the most visited sights of Prague.
A bit of history
The cemetery arose near the settlement of Olshany (then this area did not belong to Prague) in the XIV century. At the end of the XVII century. here they buried the dead from the plague. By the XVIII century. Olshanskoe cemetery was already practically in the center of Prague, and here funerals of inhabitants of the right bank of the capital were held.
Cemetery today
Today Olshanskoye consists of 12 cemeteries. However, usually it is divided into:
- Catholic;
- Orthodox;
- Hebrew.
Today, there are 65,000 ordinary tombs and 25 thousand tombs. There are also 6 columbariums, where more than 20 thousand cremated ashes are kept.
Catholic cemetery
This part of the Olshan cemetery is the most extensive. Many Czech artists and musicians, historians and writers, actors and politicians are buried here. You can see the amazingly beautiful and original gravestones, for example - white marble, the works of Frantisek Rouse, located near the main entrance.
Orthodox cemetery
The site for this cemetery was allocated in 1905. Here, the remains of 45 officers who were wounded during the battles of the Napoleonic wars and died in the hospitals of Prague were reburied. May 7, 1906 solemn opening of the monument to the fallen, which was moved here from the place of their previous burial in the Karlinsky military cemetery.
Later on it were buried the emigrants of the 1st wave, as well as the dead soldiers of the Russian armies - the Tsarist, White, Red, Soviet and ROA - Russian military units as part of the Wehrmacht.
At the Orthodox cemetery are buried writers Arkady Averchenko and Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, poet Rattaus and botanist Ilyin, historians Maksimovich and Postnikov, the mother of writer Nabokov, the widow of General Brusilov and many others. otherChurch of the Assumption
After the opening of the Orthodox site of the cemetery, a question was raised about erecting a chapel on it, but, despite the fact that funds were collected, the project was not implemented. In 1923, a wave of Russian emigrants poured into the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic. The Orthodox cemetery was enlarged, and the question of the chapel was again raised.
Donations that were made not only by Russian emigres, but also by the Serbian government and even personally by the first prime minister of the Czechoslovak Republic, were enough to build a temple. The project was donated by the architects Professor Brandt, Klodt and Pashkovsky.
The church was built with the active assistance of the Prague municipal government. The temple was consecrated in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In 1945, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary became a parish church.
Judean Cemetery
The Jewish part of the Olshan cemetery is also called the New Jewish cemetery (unlike the Old Jewish Cemetery, which is located in the Josefov quarter ). Here is buried the famous writer-existentialist Franz Kafka.
How to get to the cemetery?
You can get here by metro (go to the station Flora) and trams. In the daytime the routes No. 5, 10, 13, 15 and 16 go to the cemetery, at night - Nos. 91 and 98. The stop is called Olšanské hřbitovy.