Decades before the surrounding housing estates sprung up, the Krčský hřbitov stood here. Today we explore this place of rest. It is located on the edge of Krč in Prague 4.
Originally, the land was part of Dolní Krč. Locals called this area Zelená liška. The Krčský hřbitov was established in the first half of the 19th century. The municipality of Michle founded it. The old Michle cemetery near the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was insufficient.
Nusle was elevated to city status in 1898. Krčský hřbitov became its central cemetery. The original Nusle cemetery at today’s General Kutlvašr Square was also abolished. New construction projects put pressure on it.
The Krčský hřbitov covers 3.02 hectares. It is rectangular in shape. The cemetery stretches north to south between Krčská, Na Strži, and Olbrachtova streets. It is near the Pankrác and Budějovická metro stations. The main entrance is in the center of the northern wall. A gate near the main administrative building serves as the entrance. As of 2001, there were 780 tombs. There were also 3950 graves and 2100 urn graves.
In 1918, a military cemetery was established. It was in the southeastern part of Krčský hřbitov. It contained graves of revolution fighters. This section was abolished in the late 1950s. Behind it lay a burial ground for those fallen in the May Revolution of 1945. It is also now gone. A plaque from this burial ground is on the administrative building near the entrance.
The southwestern part of the Krčský hřbitov once held a separate section. A wall divided it. This was a cemetery for convicts from Pankrác prison. It had its own entrance from Ke Strži Street. This section was abolished in the 1930s.
A neo-Gothic hexagonal belfry remains. It came from the abolished cemetery for convicts. The cemetery chapel of the Virgin Mary stands in the center. It is a rectangular building with an aedicule on the roof. A stone cross with the crucified Jesus was reinstalled nearby in 1999.
Linden trees, horse chestnuts, and spruces dominate the Krčský hřbitov. Before the cemetery, a laundry building stood. It was part of the Zelená liška housing estate from the 1930s. In May 1945, it served as a mortuary for victims of the Prague uprising. After 2000, an apartment building replaced this structure.
The Krčský hřbitov is connected to Nusle, Krč, and Kunratice by city buses. A plaque on the northern wall near the entrance tells a story. It says that student Karel Hořejší from Nusle fell in honorable combat there. He fought against the occupiers on May 5, 1945.
Many notable people are buried at Krčský hřbitov. Václav Balšán was a track and field athlete. Alois Banseth was a businessman. Jan Budař was a priest and writer. Emil Čermák was the first editor-in-chief of Lidové noviny. Jindřich Černý was a writer and translator. Václav Čížek was a musician. John Václav Hausenblas was a high jumper and US Army colonel. Josef Jonáš was a legionnaire. František Lenoch was a physician and founder of Czech rheumatology. Otto Linhart was a legionnaire and resistance fighter. Gabriel Moudrý was a journalist. Dagmar Sedláčková was an academic painter and book illustrator. Petr Škvrně was a photographer. Karel Šolc was a pianist.
Krčský hřbitov stands as a testament to history. It connects to the past through those interred here.