Příbram cemeteries

1. HISTORY OF PŘÍBRAM CEMETERIES

It is believed that the Příbram cemetery was situated near the Church of St. James the Great from the start. The cemetery was surrounded by a wall that also provided protection. Evidence of this common practice can still be seen for example around the church in Pičín or in Stražiště near Březnice.

Holy mass for miners and ironworkers mostly of German origin was served in the Church of St. John the Evangelist and the worshipers also found their final resting place near the church, in the hospital cemetery. The Church of St. James the Great and the cemetery near the church were used by the burghers of Příbram. Priests and major burghers from Příbram were buried in the crypts in the church. The Lords of Drahenice near Březnice had their burial chamber in the Church of St. James the Great, and Markéta of Drahenice, the sister of the major Czech chronicler and historian Bartošek of Drahenice was buried here in 1433.

The events in 1618 and the subsequent Thirty Year’s War had a major impact on the town of Příbram. Besides the suffering of the war, the local residents were greatly troubled by epidemics of plague, typhus fever, cholera and febrile diseases. Příbram was struck by plague as early as in 1649 and this led to the death of dozens of residents. Year 1680 in the Czech kingdom was marked with various peasant uprisings and a major plague epidemic. As the cemetery near the Church of St. James the Great and the hospital cemetery were no longer sufficient for all deceased, a plague cemetery was established near the execution site called “U Korejtek” on the meadow called Panská louka.

Příbram’s plague column commissioned by the local merchant Jan Jakub František Pivec and his wife Dorota as a sign of their gratitude for recovery from the illness is a silent witness to these disastrous times. The column, probably the work of the Příbram stonemason and sculptor Matěj Hueber, used to stand between the Church of St. James the Great and the pharmacy and carried the statue of St. Roch, a protector against plague. When the square was modified and paved in 1839, the column was moved near the church tower and remains there to this day, although a statue of St. James the Great replaced the former statue of St. Roch.

foto: Karolina Ketmanová

2. THE LAST EXECUTION IN PŘÍBRAM

Příbram’s plague column commissioned by the local merchant Jan Jakub František Pivec and his wife Dorota as a sign of their gratitude for recovery from the illness is a silent witness to these disastrous times. The column, probably the work of the Příbram stonemason and sculptor Matěj Hueber, used to stand between the Church of St. James the Great and the pharmacy and carried the statue of St. Roch, a protector against plague. When the square was modified and paved in 1839, the column was moved near the church tower and remains there to this day, although a statue of St. James the Great replaced the former statue of St. Roch.

The town of Příbram was struck by plague again in October 1713. At the outbreak, the Příbram municipal council decided that the dead should be buried at the new cemetery at Panská louka. In 1729, an extensive crypt was established below the Church of St. James the Great, where major burghers of the town of Příbram were buried from 1730.

By the decision of the Empress Maria Theresa in 1765, the right of capital punishment was transferred from towns to regional councils. The last executions in Příbram took place on 11 October 1765, when Vavřinec Kubát from Dolní Hbity was decapitated at the execution site “U Korejtek”, and on 23 October of the same year, when the leader of a robber gang, Jan Slavík from the Zbiroh dominion was hung on the scaffold site above the town. Both executions were carried out by the Prague executioner Karel Madulín. The two men punished for their capital crimes were buried at the execution site, i.e. in the place of the current housing and “Obecní zahrada” (Municipal Garden).

Between 1771 and 1772, famine was followed by an outbreak of a febrile disease that took the lives of many residents. The senior administrator Dionysius Martinec pushed through the ban of burials by the Church of St. James the Great and at the cemetery of St. John the Evangelist. From October 1771, the plague cemetery at Panská louka was reopened and consecrated. In January 1772, three pits (mass graves) were dug there, and the municipal council ordered for the cemetery to be enclosed in a wooden fence. However, major burghers continued to be buried in the crypt in the Church of St. James the Great. The senior administrator Martinec enforced a ban of burying dead in this crypt and some of the deceased even had to be transferred to the new cemetery, despite the initial disagreement of Příbram’s dean.

In 1784, the Church of John the Evangelist including the adjacent cemetery was shut down due to disrepair. The Skalka shopping centre now stands roughly in the place where the Church of St. John the Evangelist and the hospital cemetery used to be.

On 26 January 1786, the first funeral took place at the newly opened cemetery at Panská louka. Alžběta Machutová, maiden name Škodová was buried here but this was preceded by the burial of 6 small children from the town of Příbram and its surroundings. As part of the reforms introduced by Joseph II, burial inside municipalities and in church crypts was banned and the old cemetery by the Church of St. James the Great was therefore closed for burial in 1786.

3. EMPTY TOMBS BELOW TOMBSTONES

The efforts to achieve independence of the municipality of Březové Hory were also reflected in the focus on improving the local St. Prokop’s Church, and later in the construction of a new church and establishment of an independent parish with its own cemetery. In 1879, establishment of an independent parish branch was approved, reconstruction of St. Prokop’s Church was completed and the cemetery in Březové Hory was established. It was consecrated along with St. Prokop’s Church in October 1879. In previous years, in particular during epidemics, people were also buried around St. Prokop’s Church, especially in the place of the current Káša’s cross.

During 1886–1889, St. Vojtěch’s Church was built in Březové Hory according to the design by the Prague architect Münzbergr. The capacity of the cemetery in Březové Hory was soon found to be insufficient, and the cemetery was therefore extended to the current shape in 1907. A house of worship of the Czechoslovak Church dedicated to Master Jakoubek of Stříbro was built in Březové Hory according to the design by the architect S. Vachata in 1936. A columbarium for urns with ashes of the local parishioners was established in the foyer of the church.

On 31 May 1892, a fire broke out in the Marie mine and fumes from the fire gradually spread throughout the Březové Hory mine district. This tragic event took the lives of 319 people and at the time became the worst mining disaster in the world. As an outbreak of an epidemic was feared due to the large number of victims, the directorate and the representatives of the towns of Příbram and Březové Hory decided to establish mass graves at both municipal cemeteries, where most of the deceased miners were buried.

In 1893, the imperial ministry of agriculture in Vienna had tombs with two chambers built for the victims of the mining tragedy and the remains of the deceased miners were to be transferred there after abolishing the mass graves. Cast-iron obelisks with classicist design manufactured in the Komárov steelworks from artistic alloy were placed above the tombs. Both serve as quiet commemoration of the mining disaster.

However, the tombs below the obelisks were not used as intended. The miners’ mass graves remain at the cemetery in Březové Hory and the tomb below the obelisk is empty. The mass graves at the Příbram cemetery were buried under regular graves without transferring the remains of the deceased miners into the tomb. However, the tomb below the obelisk is not empty, as five miners that died during an accident in the Anna mine in 1946 were buried there.

The imperial ministry of agriculture had a commemorative plaque dedicated to the miners who died in rescue work during the mining disaster installed in St. Vojtěch’s Church in 1893. The voluntary fire brigade in Březové Hory in cooperation with other local societies had the grave of the mine carpenter Augustin Žlutický, who also died while involved in the rescue work during the mining disaster, reconstructed. A memorial for widows and orphans of the victims of the mining disaster was built in front of the Marie mine in 1997 based on the incentive of the Prokop society in Příbram. An exhibition focusing on the mining disaster can also be seen in the premises of the Marie mine.

4. CEMETERY NEXT TO LANDFILL

Administration of the cemetery in Příbram was in the hands of the Church of St. James the Great until World War II, when it was handed over to the town. At the end of the 1920s and during the 1930s, the Society of the Friends of Cremation strived to establish an urn garden at Hvězdička. Their efforts were not successful. Only as the town was reconstructed in the 1960s, the municipal council restored the original project and a memory orchard – an urn garden was established above the cemetery in the location called “Na Hvězdičce” in 1965.

In 1978, the municipal council in Příbram issued a ban of burial at the Příbram and Březové Hory cemeteries, which also applied to the placement of urns. The newly established cemetery at Pichce became the final resting place for residents of Příbram. The old cemeteries in Příbram and Březové Hory were to be abolished in 2008.

However, the cemetery in Pichce in an undignified location near the municipal landfill was soon found to be inappropriate also due to the high underground water level. However, the ban of burial at the old cemetery in Příbram continued to be enforced with certain exceptions until 1990, when the co-opted municipal council adopted new burial rules, allowing burial in soil at the old cemetery in Příbram and the placement of urns at the cemetery in Březové Hory.

The last major change occurred in 2000, when a decision to gradually abolish the cemetery in Pichce was adopted and graves and gravestones were moved to the newly designated part of the Příbram cemetery in the so-called Municipal Garden during 2001–2002.

■ Jaroslav Korbel Podbrdský (redakčně zkráceno)